Rotterdam council has voted to sell its big stake in electricity company Eneco, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday.

The decision by Rotterdam council on Thursday evening makes it likely that the company will be floated on the Amsterdam stock exchange next year, the paper said. Bankers argue that none of the shareholders want Eneco to fall into the hands of a single public authority which could happen in the case of a sale.

The electricity company is owned by 53 local authorities and, if sold or brought to the bourse, would raise up to €3bn for its owners, most of which have tiny 1% or 2% stakes in the utility.

With nearly 32% of the shares in the utility, Rotterdam is the biggest shareholder. The Hague, which voted to hold on to its shares, is the second-largest with more than 16%. All shareholders must decide before 31 October whether to retain or sell their shares.

Local elections

So far local authorities holding about 20% of the shares have voted to keep their shares but observers say this could rise to 25% by the deadline. Nothing definitive is expected to happen until the municipal elections next March.

Eight years ago, the two other main energy firms Nuon and Essent were also sold off, each for around €9bn. Nuon is now owned by Swedish state owned firm Vattenfall while Essent is the hands of German utilities group RWE.

Eneco is not large in terms of power generation but does supply energy to some 3.5 million Dutch households.