Illinova Energy Partners, one of the top-30 largest powermarketing operations in the nation, grabbed a foothold in theMichigan retail gas and power market with the purchase of EMC GasTransmission Co. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.

St. Clair Shores, MI-based EMC, formed in 1986, is an energysupply management firm with 15 Bcf/year of retail sales and morethan 300 commercial and industrial customers in Michigan and otherstates in the Midwest. EMC President Gary Dillon said the mergeraccomplishes three major goals for his mid-sized energy managementcompany: it provides much greater financial support for retailexpansion, gives EMC the engineering expertise its customers desireand prepares it for retail electric competition, which is expectedto advance next year.

“For 12 years we’ve been helping customers save money on energypurchasing but we’ve seen the margins starting to be compressed,”said Dillon. “We’ve been looking for a company that not only canprovide improved credit capabilities but one that can help us dosome new things on the engineering side. Illinova clearly doesthat.

“From their perspective, EMC gives Illinova an immediateMichigan presence. We’re in the top five in terms of customer basehere. To come in and try to compete here would be difficult,” headded.

Illinova Energy vice president Thomas Rainwater said combiningIllinova’s financial strength, energy information systems andengineering services with EMC’s gas and supply expertise creates acompany that is “well equipped to help Michigan business ownersreduce their overall energy costs.”

Illinova Energy Partners, is an affiliate of Illinois Power anda subsidiary of Oak Brook, IL-based Illinova Corp., which holds $5billion in assets.

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