Blackstone, CVC and Apax are among parties considering a bid for National Grid Wireless, the £2 billion mobile phone and broadcast infrastructure business.

Warburg Pincus and Cinven are also thought to have expressed interest in the business, whose owner, National Grid, effectively hoisted a “for sale” sign when it announced plans to demerge the division last year.

Morgan Stanley, which is handling the demerger, is weighing up the benefit of taking offers for the business before the market has put a price on it through a demerger.

The appetite for infrastructure businesses, such as National Grid, which provide predictable cashflows through long-term contracts, is at fever pitch.

But a sale ahead of a demerger could reap less than the market value of the business, plus a premium that might be achieved later.

One source with knowledge of the deal said: “Morgan Stanley now has to form a view: is the price now better than the future price put on it by the market plus sale premium?”

Analysts value National Grid Wireless, which has about 14,500 UK sites and a client list including the BBC, Vodafone and T-Mobile, at about £2 billion.

Macquarie, the acquisitive Australian bank, which would have been a lead contender for the business, is widely deemed to be a nonrunner because of the regulatory challenges it would face.

Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group (MCIG) is the biggest shareholder in Arqiva, the UK’s other big transmission mast business. MCIG is regarded instead as the most likely winner of O2 Airwave, the secure digital radio business that has been put up for sale by Telefónica.

So far no trade buyers are understood to have shown interest in the National Grid business.

National Grid said in November that it wanted to spin off the wireless division and refocus its business on electricity transmission and gas distribution in the UK and the US. It said that the demerger would happen by April.

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