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Columbia Energy to Sell Stakes in Four Power
Plants (Update2) |
By James Mosher
Herndon, Virginia, Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) --
Columbia Energy Group, a Virginia natural-gas
company, agreed to sell stakes in four power
plants to a partnership owned by Delta Power Co.
LLC and John Hancock Life Insurance Co. to help
gain approval for its merger with NiSource Inc.
Financial details weren't disclosed. The stakes
include half ownership in two New Jersey plants
and one in Texas as well as a 10 percent stake
in a Maine plant. The natural gas-fired plants
can generate 799 megawatts of electricity,
enough to light about 799,000 U.S. homes.
The agreement comes nine days after Columbia
agreed to sell its Columbia Electric Corp. unit
to Orion Power Holdings Inc. for $200 million.
The plants announced today weren't included in
the earlier agreement with Orion. Columbia is
shedding the stakes in order to gain regulatory
approval for the $8.5 billion buyout of Columbia
Energy by NiSource, Columbia spokesman Michael
McGarry said. That buyout is expected to close
by Nov. 1, he said.
Delta Power, based in Morristown, New Jersey,
owns stakes in six other natural-gas-fired power
plants in the U.S. It is closely held. John
Hancock Life is a unit of Boston-based John
Hancock Financial Services Inc., the
14th-largest U.S. life insurer.
Shares of Columbia Energy, based in Herndon,
Virginia, rose 19 cents to 71.38 in New York
Stock Exchange trading. They have risen 13
percent this year after NiSource, a
Merrillville, Indiana- based utility, said in
February it would buy Columbia, ending a
nine-month takeover fight. NiSource fell 38
cents to 25.06 on the NYSE.
Shares of John Hancock Financial fell 25 cents
to 28.69, also on the NYSE. They have risen 69
percent since they first began trading Jan. 27. |
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