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Law & Lawyers

Wooing Wall Street: Choosing Between a Spinoff or Targeted Stock for that New Unregulated Subsidiary.Richard H. Pettway and Judith Johnson

AT&T and U S WEST scored points with investors, but PacTel's AirTouch deal failed to move the market.ell before the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was signed, it had become abundantly clear to telephone companies that they would need to change their organizational or corporate structures to keep pace with the changing business and regulatory climate.

The question, however, was how to make that structural change pay off on Wall Street (em how to use the reorganizati

Byline: 
Richard H. Pettway, and Judith Johnson
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Utilities Shut Out of Third-quarter Stock Upswing

Utilities Shut Out of Third-quarter Stock Upswing

Utility stocks treaded water during the third quarter, while most stocks nationally took flight. This lackluster quarterly performance in the utilities sector proved most prevalent in the Public Utilities Stock Index. The box score: Our index fell 43.96 points, or 1.11 percent, to conclude the three-month period at 3908.43.

In stark contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average powered itself 227.54 points higher, or 4.02 percent, en route to a record high of 5882.17.

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Frontlines

It was the week before Thanksgiving. On the train ride home (I live in downtown Washington, DC, in an old, sprawling apartment building that once claimed Huey Long and Richard Nixon as tenants), my attention was drawn to a frazzled female lawyer sitting in the seat next to me, who was feverishly making notes in the margins of a thick, serious-looking, legal-sized document.

I confess. I like to read over people's shoulders, but often lose interest after the first few words. This case was different, though.

Byline: 
Bruce W. Radford
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People

John L. Carter was elected to Tucson Electric Power Co.'s board of directors. He replaces J. Burgess Winter, who resigned. Carter recently retired as executive v.p. and CFO of Burr-Brown Corp.

Madison Gas and Electric Co. promoted Terry A. Hanson to v.p. and treasurer. Hanson, who joined the company in 1981, had been treasurer.

Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. promoted two executives and hired a third.

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Mailbag

Un-American Activities

I would like to comment on Joseph Paquette's letter ("Stranded-cost Recovery: It's Constitutional," Mailbag, Oct. 1, 1996) responding to Charles Studness (Stranded-cost Recovery: It's Un-American," Financial News, July 15, 1996, p. 43).

Mr. Paquette suggests that denying recovery of stranded costs amounts to an unconstitutional taking of private property.

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Joules

American International Partners, L.C. will conduct a feasibility study for a 100-Mw, coal-fired power plant in the northern border region of Vietnam. The proposed project is estimated at $150 million, which includes expansion of a coal mine on the site and development of a limestone mine. The project would be developed jointly with The Vietnam National Coal Corp. The two companies have signed a letter of intent to develop a second plant in the Bac Thai province, 70 kilometers from Hanoi.

CalEnergy Co., Inc.

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Majority Whip Introduces Restructuring Bill

Signaling the direction he believes the 105th Congress should take, Rep. Tom DeLay

(R-TX) on the last day of the 104th Congress introduced legislation, H.R. 4297, "The Consumers Electric Power Act," to bring competition to the nation's electric industry.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Marketing & Competing

Virtual DisCos? Utilities might be stepping out,

but outsourcers could be cutting in.Wholesale competition and the prospect of competitive retailing are leading many electric utilities to turn their distribution activities into discrete business units. But the emergence of the "DisCo" as a distinct entity may only mark the first step in a more radical disaggregation.

Why the distribution business may see radical change isn't immediately apparent.

Byline: 
Corey Stone
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Energy/Telecom Combo Hits Boston

Boston Edison Co. (BE) and RCN Inc., a subsidiary of C-TEC Corp., have announced what they say is the "most comprehensive agreement in the nation" between an electric utility and a broadband network company to provide one-stop shopping for energy and telecommunications services.

The two companies have signed an agreement to form a joint venture to provide local- and long-distance telephone service, video, high-speed internet access, and eventually, energy-management and property-monitoring services.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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FERC to Examine Market Dominance for NiMO

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has conditionally approved market-based power-sales rates for Plum Street Energy Marketing, Inc., an affiliate of Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. (NMP) (Docket No. ER96-2525-000). It also set for hearing the issue of whether transmission constraints result in market dominance by NMP or its affiliate.

Plum Street's application to market and broker electric power states that it would not market power to NMP unless so authorized by the FERC.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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