CLP, Hong Kong's largest power company, is planning to bid for electricity assets in Australia, India, Singapore and other countries in south-east Asia after falling short of its investment targets in China.

Andrew Brandler, chief executive, told the Financial Times that CLP would take part in a proposed sale of energy assets in New South Wales, which accounts for about 40 per cent of Australia's electricity market, as well as any break-up of AGL, the energy company whose chief executive departed abruptly following disappointing earnings.

Next month's Australian federal election is expected to clear the way for a decision by New South Wales on whether to privatise its energy assets, recently estimated by Credit Suisse to be worth A$17bn ($15.6bn), including debt. Investment bankers in Australia have suggested the sale could be worth as much as A$25bn.

Mr Brandler described the New South Wales assets as "a huge opportunity", but also as "a big bite for us". He said that if it acquired the NSW assets CLP might float its TRUenergy subsidiary, one of Australia's three leading electricity retailers. "It would be doubling the size of our assets in Australia and, if we're successful in that, that would be the time to list [TRUenergy]."

Asked whether AGL's difficulties could present a takeover opportunity for CLP, Mr Brandler said: "There's a lot of speculation that it could be a break-up play, and we would look at all opportunities."

Mr Brandler said that CLP and its Japanese partner Mitsubishi could seek help from financial investors to boost their chances of securing at least one of the three utilities that are being sold by Temasek, the state investment agency, a divestment likely to fetch about $5bn.

CLP is also targeting India, where it has so far invested only about $300m but expects to face fewer investment hurdles than in China. Mr Brandler said India presented a substantial opportunity for foreign power companies over the coming years, not least because "it's not difficult to raise financing there, particularly from local sources".

Controlled by Sir Michael Kadoorie, the scion of an Iraqi-Jewish family that settled in Shanghai in the 19th century and moved to Hong Kong in 1949, CLP accounts for three-quarters of electricity sales in the territory.

CLP needs to diversify away from Hong Kong, which accounts for 74 per cent of its earnings. The territory's generous "Scheme of Control" regulatory arrangement allows CLP and its joint venture generating partner, Exxon Mobil, up to a 15 per cent return on assets but is being renegotiated by the government.

It has a minority stake in - and sources one-third of its energy requirement from - the Daya Bay nuclear plant across the mainland border in Shenzhen. The company also supplies electricity to Shekou in western Shenzhen from one of its two Hong Kong power plants.

However, it has not found it easy to progress on the mainland.

China's lumbering monopoly incumbent, the State Power Corp, was carved up at the beginning of 2003 into five generating and two transmission companies. Establishing a beachhead in a market dominated by such giants required more power than CLP could muster. The five generators are: China Power International, China Resources Power, Datang International Power, Huadian Power International and Huaneng Power International.

"In five years' time they will be among the biggest power companies in the world," says Mr Brandler. "There's also talk of further consolidation - five may go into three . . . It doesn't leave a lot of room for a relatively small, quasi-outsider Hong Kong company.

"We're tiny compared to the national generators," he says. "We don't have any particular competitive advantage on the mainland. China has access to technology now; it has plenty of capital. By and large the businesses are well-managed [and] have much better political contacts than we do."

CLP's China portfolio is still impressive.

CLP has stakes in 12 China generation plants with capacity of slightly less than 9,000MW - or about 3,900 equity MW - including coal, hydro, nuclear and renewable projects. Mr Brandler says his company's China strategy has shifted "away from the mainstream towards a niche strategy on renewables and, hopefully, at some stage, more investment [in] nuclear".