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related
Profiles
& Notes:

telecoms
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utilicoms

Aust & NZ
telecoms

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     energy and utility networks

This page provides some benchmarks, from energy and utility networks, for acquisitions and disposals during recent telecommunication booms and busts and the dot-com bubble.

It covers -

• oil
• coal
• electricity
• water
• gas
• studies

There is a broader discussion of the electricity revolutions, of energy in the information economy and of utilicoms elsewhere on this site.

     oil

Oil industry landmarks prior to 1990 include -

• Shell buys Belridge for US$3.6bn in 1979
• du Pont buys Conoco for US$8.0bn in 1981
• US Steel buys Marathon for US$6.6bn in 1981
• Elf Aquitaine buys Texasgulf for US$4.2bn in 1981
• Occidental buys Cities Service for US$4.1bn in 1982
• Chevron [Socal] buys Gulf for US$13.2bn in 1984
• Texaco buys Getty in 1984
• Mobil buys Superior for US$5.7bn in 1984
• US Steel buys Texas Oil & Gas for US$4.0bn in 1985
• Occidental buys MidCon for US$3.0bn in 1985
• Amoco buys Dome Petroleum for US$4.1bn in 1987
• Exxon buys Texaco Canada for US$4.1bn in 1989

Landmarks in the 1990s were -

• Exxon joins with Mobil in US$250bn merger in 1999
• BP buys Amoco for US$50bn in 1999
• BP Amoco pays £3bn for Burmah Castrol in 1999
• Enron sells stake in Enron Oil & Gas for US$600m in 1999
• Total acquires Petrofina for US$11bn in 1999, becomes Total Fina
• Repsol buys YPF for US$15bn in 1999
• Total Fina buys Elf Aquitaine for US$48.8bn in 1999

Landmarks from 2000 onwards include -

• Anadarko Petroleum buys Union Pacific Resources Group for US$4.4bn in 2000
• BP buys ARCO for US$27bn in 2000
• Shell and BP Amoco sell Altura for US$3.6bn in 2000
• Tractebel buys Cabot LNG for US$680m in 2000
• Chevron acquires Texaco for US$36bn in 2001
• Anadarko buys Berkley Petroleum for US$1bn in 2001
• Phillips Petroleum acquires Tosco in 2001
• Dominion buys Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas for US$1.7bn in 2001
• Conoco and Phillips merge in 2001
• Royal Dutch/Shell buys Pennzoil-Quaker State for US$3.2bn in 2002
• RWE pays €4.1bn for Czech natural gas importer Transgas and eight regional gas distributors
• China National Petroleum buys PetroKazakhstan for US$4.18bn
• E.On buys Caledonia Oil & Gas for US$835m in 2005
• ConocoPhillips agrees to acquire Burlington Resources for US$35.6bn in 2005
• Cal Dive International agrees to pay US$1.4bn for Remington Oil & Gas in 2006
• EnCana agrees to sell its gas storage arm for US$1.5bn in 2006
• Anadarko Petroleum agrees to pay US$16.4bn for Kerr-McGee in 2006
• Anadarko agrees to pay US$4.74bn for Western Gas Resources in 2006
• Statoil agrees to buy oil and gas operations of Norsk Hydro for US$28bn in 2006
• Marathon Oil agrees to buy Western Oil Sands for US$5.56bn in 2007
• XTO Energy agrees to buy Hunt Petroleum for US$4.2bn in 2008
• China Oil Services agrees to buy Awilco Offshore of Norway for US$2.5bn in 2008
• Duvernay Oil agrees to be acquired by Shell Canada for US$5.9bn in 2008

     coal

M&A landmarks regarding coal include -

• OAO Severstal agrees to buy PBS Coals for US$1.3bn in 2008
• Teck Cominco agrees to buy Fording Canadian Coal Trust for US$14.1bn in 2008
• Cleveland-Cliffs agrees to buy Alpha Natural Resources for US$10bn in 2008
• Peabody Energy pays US$2.04bn for Excel Coal in 2006
• Kennecott buys Peabody Coal for US$622m in 1968

     electricity

Examples of smart, unwise (or merely unlucky) buying in the electricity generation and distribution sector during the 1990s were -

• PacifiCorp buys Powercor from Victorian government for $2.1bn in 1995
• Victorian government sells CitiPower to Entergy for $1.57bn in 1995
• Ohio Edison and Centerior merge as FirstEnergy in $4.8bn deal in 1996
• Duke Energy buys PanEnergy for US $9.8bn in 1997
• Enron buys Portland General Electric (PGE) in 1997
• Entergy sells CitiPower business to American Electric Power (AEP) for $1.7bn in 1998
• ScottishPower buys PacifiCorp for US$10.3bn in 1998
• Sithe Energies buys fossil fuel and hydroelectric facilities of General Public Utilities (GPU) for US$1.7bn in 1999
• Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) and Hongkong Electric buy ETSA from South Australian government for $3.4bn in 1999
• BEC Energy acquires Commonwealth Energy System in US$4.4bn merger

Deals since 1999 include -

• ScottishPower sells Powercor to Cheung Kong and Hongkong Electric for $2.31bn in 2000
• ScottishPower sells PacifiCorp to Warren Buffett's MidAmerican for US$9.1bn in 2000
• Veba buys EZH for €900m in 2000
• Powergen's acquires LG&E Energy for US$5.4bn in 2000
• Veba and VIAG merge as E.on in 2000
• Singapore Power buys PowerNet in Victoria for $2.1bn in 2000
• CKI and Hongkong Electric sell Powercor electricity retail business to Origin Energy for $315m in 2001
• Duke Energy buys Westcoast Energy for US$8.5bn in 2001
• FirstEnergy buys GPU for over US$4.5bn in 2001
• CKI buys CitiPower from AEP for $1.5bn in 2002
• RWE buys Powergen for €15bn in 2002
• RWE buys Innogy Holdings for €8.4bn in 2002
• National Grid buys Niagara Mohawk for US$8.9bn in 2002
• RWE buys Elektrizitaetwerke Wesertal from Fortum for €545m in 2002
• Edison Mission sells Edison Australia, Asia and Europe to International Power and Mitsui for US$5.5bn
• E.On buys Midlands Electricity for US$1.4bn in 2003
• RWE buys Graninge in Sweden for €530m in 2003
• Alinta buys Duke Energy's Asia-Pacific assets for $1.69bn in 2004
• Texas Genco sold by CenterPoint Energy to Texas Pacific consortium for US$0.9bn in 2004
• Exelon agrees to buy Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G) for US$13bn in 2004 (deal abandoned 2006)
• Dynegy sells Illinois Power to Ameren for US$2.3bn in 2004
• TXU sells Australian operation to Singapore Power for $5.6bn in 2004
• Prime Infrastructure Group pays $NZ680m for Powerco in 2004
• Duke buys Cinergy for US$9.1bn in 2005
• AGL buys Southern Hydro for $1.43bn in 2005
• NRG Energy buys Texas Genco for US$5.8bn in 2005
• E.ON abandons US$19.4 takeover of Scottish Power in 2005
• Singapore Power spins off stake in Spark for $1.4bn in 2005
• Babcock & Brown buys Portuguese wind energy and hydropower producer Enersis II SGPS for US$590m in 2005
• Florida Power & Light agrees to acquire Constellation Energy Group for US$11bn in 2005
• RAG buys 43% of Degussa from E.ON for €2.8bn in 2005
• Gas Natural bids €22.5bn for Endesa in 2006
• KeySpan agrees to be acquired by National Grid for US$7.3bn in 2006
• Suez SA and Gaz de France SA agree to merge in US$85.7bn deal in 2006
• Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group agrees to buy NorthWestern Corp. for US$2.2bn in 2006
• Austrian oil refiner OMV agrees to buy Verbund in €11.5bn deal (later abandoned) in 2006
• ITC Holdings agrees to buy Michigan Electric Transmission for US$866m in 2006
• MMC agrees to pay US$2.6bn to buy Malaysian independent power producer Malakoff in 2006
• Brookfield Asset Management agrees to buy 92% stake in Transelec Chile SA from Hydro-Quebec for US$1.55bn in 2006
• Macquarie Bank consortium agrees to buy Duquesne Light Holdings for US$1.59bn in 2006
• Iberdrola agrees to buy Scottish Power for US$22.5bn in 2006
• Essent and Nuon announce US$31bn merger in 2007
• AGL Energy buys Powerdirect Australia for $1.2bn in 2007
• Iberdrola agrees to buy Energy East Corp for US$4.5bn in 2007
• Puget Energy agrees to be acquired by Macquarie consortium for US$7.4bn in 2007
• United Utilities sells Norweb electricity distribution arm to Colonial First State and JP Morgan consortium for £1.14bn in 2007

     water

Examples from the water sector are -

• ScottishPower buys Southern Water for £3.2bn in 1996
• Enron buys Wessex Water for US$3bn in 1998
• Kelda buys Aquarion for US$446m in 1999
• RWE buys Thames Water for £6.8bn in 2000
• Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux buys United Water Resources for US$1bn in 2000
• RWE buys American Water Works for £4.2bn in 2001
• ScottishPower sells Southern Water for £2.1bn in 2002
• Wessex Water acquired by YTL for £1.24bn in 2002 after Enron collapse
• Suez sells 75% stake in Northumbian Water for around £1.65bn in 2003
• CKI buys Cambridge Water from Union Fenosa for £51m in 2004
• General Electric acquires Zenon Environmental in Canada for US$760m in 2006
• Kinder Morgan sells Terasen water and utility services arm for US$124m in 2006
• Macquarie wins £8bn auction for Thames Water in 2006
• Kelda Group (Yorkshire Water) agrees to be acquired for US$6.2bn by HSBC, GIC and Citigroup consortium

Other infrastructure is highlighted later in this note.

     gas

Examples from the gas distribution sector are -

• KeySpan formed through the merger of KeySpan Energy (Brooklyn Union Gas) and some units of Long Island Lighting in 1998
• Victorian government privatises gas network assets - Westar/Kinetik (for $1.67bn), Multinet/Ikon ($1.9bn) and Stratus/Energy 21 ($1.67bn) - in 1999
• Transmission Pipelines Australia sold to General Public Utilities for $1bn in 1999
• AlintaGas listed on ASX, 45% sold to United Energy and Utilicorp consortium for $1.4bn in 2000
• RWE buys Transgas and Innogy for US$11bn in 2002
• TXU sells TXU Gas Company to Atmos for US$1.9bn in 2004
• CKI and United Utilities buy North England Gas Distribution Network from National Grid Transco for £1.3bn in 2005
• Bass family agrees to sell Sid Richardson Energy Services (gas pipelines) to Southern Union for US$1.6n in 2005
• Southern Union Company agrees to sell PG Energy to UGI for US$580m in 2005
• National Grid buys Southern Union's Rhode Island gas distribution operations for £329m in 2006
• Gaz de France and Suez agree to merge in US$85.7bn deal in 2006
• Alinta agrees to buy AGL's energy transmission and management units for $6.45bn in 2006
• MDU Resources agrees to acquire Cascade for US$475m in 2006
• El Paso sells ANR Pipeline and 50% stake in Great Lakes Gas Transmission to TransCanada and TC PipeLines for US$4.13bn in 2006
• Babcock & Brown consortium buys MidCon (Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America) for $7.6bn in 2007

     studies

Works on oil, gas and electricity markets and business are highlighted in the discussion of the carbon economy and the Revolutions profile elsewhere on this site. They include Daniel Yergin's lucid The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York: Simon & Schuster 1991) and Jeremy Leggett's The Carbon War: Dispatches from the End of the Oil Era (London: Allen Lane 1999).

A supplementary note here and here provides pointers to literature on M&A in the energy sector and works on individual enterprises.

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