Taking Utilities Private: Return of the Barbarians
Experts debate whether KKR's leveraged buyout of UniSource Energy is right for the industry.
“From a public policy standpoint, should a utility that provides a vital public good be owned by a private group that gains ownership by taking on a high degree of debt (risk)?” Mark T. Williams, executive-in-residence at the Finance & Economics Department at Boston University, identifies the quintessential issue that will no doubt be heatedly debated in boardrooms and commissions as more utility CEOs are tempted to become private utilities through a leveraged buyout transaction.
And tempted they will be.