After losing a court battle that would have nullified theacquisition, FPL Energy Inc. announced Thursday it closed the dealto obtain Central Maine Power Co.’s (CMP) non-nuclear generatingassets. The transaction is expected to be completed inApril.

The acquisition was finished only after a federal court rejectedFPL’s request for a declaratory judgement that CMP could not meetessential terms of the sales agreement between the two companies. Atthe heart of FPL’s arguments were decisions passed by FERC regardingtransmission access. The company believes these decisions make itharder for Maine’s older plants to run competitively (See Daily GPI, Nov. 19), and as a result, itwanted to nullify the $846 million transaction.

“We initiated the court proceedings because we believe thatrecent rulings by the [FERC] regarding transmission accessrepresent a material adverse effect on CMP’s generating assets,”said Michael Yackira, president of FPL Energy, Inc. “However, weaccept the court’s decision, and we will proceed accordingly.” FPLwas unavailable for further comment.

FPL won the generating assets in an early 1998 auction. Thecombined capacity is 1,185, and before the legal troubles, FPL saidit had plans to increase that capacity by 1,500.

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