The Company (formerly known as National Grid Gas Distribution Limited) was incorporated in March 2016, but only commenced trading on 1 October 2016 following the hive out of assets and liabilities relating to the gas distribution business from National Grid Gas plc ("NGG").
In November 2015, National Grid plc ("NG") announced the potential disposal of a majority stake in its gas distribution business.
The first stage of the partial divestment involved the separation of NGG’s gas distribution business from its gas transmission business, by transferring all related assets and certain liabilities to National Grid Gas Distribution Limited ("NGGD", now Cadent Gas Ltd) a newly created wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid Holdings One plc ("NGHO", an intermediate holding company between NG and NGG).
On 8 December 2016, NG signed an agreement with a consortium comprising Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, Allianz Capital Partners, Hermes Investment Management, CIC Capital Corporation, Qatar Investment Authority, Dalmore Capital and Amber Infrastructure Limited/International Public Partnerships (the "Consortium") for the sale of a 61 per cent equity interest in NGGD.
The sale of the Company to a newly formed holdco entity (Quadgas Holdco Limited, the "Holdco") was completed on 31 March 2017. The Holdco was jointly owned by NGHO as a minority stakeholder (39 per cent) and the Consortium (61 per cent). Consequentially, the Company, now renamed Cadent Gas Ltd, and Quadgas Midco became part of a standalone structure external to National Grid’s consolidated group.
Post the completion of NG’s sale of a 61 per cent equity interest in the Company on 31 March 2017, the entity began business under a new brand, Cadent Gas Ltd, on 1 May 2017. On 28 June 2019, National Grid completed the sale of their remaining 39% stake in the holding company for the Cadent business to Quadgas Investments Bidco Limited. Below is a high level organizational chart:
