[BETA] Fortnightly

(March)

(December 2012) NRG completes Gen-On acquisition; Dominion invests in midstream gas development; NextEra buys Cimarron I PV plant; People’s Natural Gas acquires Equitable Gas; plus other other M&A and bond deals, together totaling $6.7 billion.

(January 2013) Entergy acquires Kgen gas-fired plants in Arkansas and Mississippi; TransCanada buys BP share of Alberta gas storage facility; PSE acquires Tenaska plant; AEP issues $850 million in debt; Duke units float $650 million in bonds; plus debt issues by NextEra, Southern Company, Entergy, and others totaling nearly $3.2 billion.

(October 2012) Entergy Mississippi to spin off its transmission business to ITC; Calpine acquires Bosque Power merchant plant in Texas; WPS acquires Fox Energy plant; E.On buys interest in Magic Valley wind farm; plus bond issues by Nstar, Western Mass. Electric, Texas Eastern Transmission, Alabama Power, and NSP totaling $1.55 billion.

Utilities seeking financing for environmental upgrades should look to the markets for debt and equity, rather than trying to securitize those costs.

September 2012 -- Southern Company and Turner purchase SunEdison 30-MW PV plant; PSEG acquires 15-MW PV project from Juwi Solar; Duke issues $650 million in 30-year notes; PSE&G floats $350 million; Sempra and SoCal Gas each issue $350 million in bonds; plus bond issues from ONEOK, Regency Energy, ComEd, Tampa Electric, DTE, and Tucson Electric, totaling $4.8 billion.

Conditions are ideal for utility financing—but not forever. Although interest rates remain low, policy changes weigh on capital structures.

Bond investors are keen for signs of a legitimate recovery, and will be looking to move into holdco bonds.

(October 2012) Exelon sells plants in Maryland and Cali; Mitsui buys into Viridity; Duke issues $1.2B; plus deals at TVA, Xcel, PG&E, etc. totaling $4.9B.

Duke and Progress complete their merger; NRG agrees to acquire GenOn; Algonquin acquires National Grid's New Hampshire distribution business, and acquires an interest in Gamesa's Sandy Ridge wind project; plus other equity and debt transactions, totaling more than $34 billion.