Viridian Group, the parent company of Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has agreed to sell its subsidiary’s transmission and distribution business to the Irish Government-owned firm Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in a deal worth for 1 billion pounds.

Under the terms of the deal, NIE will receive 1.043 billion pounds from ESB subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions.

Northern Ireland energy minister Arlene Foster has assured that he would watch the transaction closely in order to make sure the interests of consumers don’t suffer.

Commenting on the potential deal, Foster said, “I will continue to keep a close watch as the transaction proceeds towards completion to ensure the interests of electricity consumers in Northern Ireland are properly considered.”

Meanwhile, the chief executive of ESB has announced that the deal would not result into redundancies in NIE.

The ESB chief said that NIE, which has a workforce of around 1,300 people, would remain a separate company under the deal.

The potential transaction is yet to be approved by both Irish as well as British competition authorities, but it is expected to be finalized by the end of this year.