Dynegy Inc. confirmed Friday that it is in exclusive discussions with St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. to sell Illinois Power Co. (IP) for an undisclosed amount. Dynegy’s sale of the unit to Exelon Corp. fell through late last month, and Ameren said in a statement that there was no assurance that the talks would lead to an agreement or that the agreement would be completed.

IP is Dynegy’s regulated electric and natural gas distribution and transmission utility. It serves 590,000 electric and 415,000 gas customers in areas contiguous to Ameren’s existing Illinois utility service territories. Ameren, through its subsidiaries, AmerenCILCO, AmerenCIPS and AmerenUE, currently serves more than 970,000 electric and gas customers in Illinois and has approximately 3,200 employees in Illinois.

If it completed negotiations to buy IP, the company said it would maintain IP’s headquarters in Decatur, IL, “honor all existing labor agreements and bring long-term value to all stakeholders. Further, Ameren would not propose any special legislation to complete this acquisition.”

Exelon canceled its planned $2.23 billion purchase of IP after it failed to receive special concessions from Illinois lawmakers.

The IP transaction would be subject to satisfactory completion of Ameren’s due diligence, negotiation of final terms and structure, negotiation and execution of definitive agreements, receipt of approvals from the boards of directors of both companies and required regulatory approvals, in addition to other conditions. Ameren does not expect to make any other announcements until a definitive agreement is reached.

With assets of $13.5 billion, Ameren owns a diverse mix of electric generating plants in its Midwest market, with a capacity of more than 14,500 MW. It serves 1.7 million electric customers and 500,000 natural gas customers in a 49,000 square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.

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