Northeast Utilities and Yankee Gas parent Yankee Energy System,Inc. have completed their merger nine months after the deal wasannounced. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which hadordered the break up of the two companies a decade earlier approvedthe recombination Jan. 31 based on a much more lax application ofthe Public Utility Holding Company Act. After approving the deallast fall, YES shareholders decided whether to receive $45/share incash or in NU stock. NU will issue over 11 million shares to YESshareholders. In addition, YES shareholders who receive NU shares,as opposed to cash, will be eligible to receive NU’s dividend of 10cents per share, payable on March 31 to NU shareholders of recordas of March 6. In the transaction, NU will pay $478 million for allof YES common equity and will assume about $200 million in debt.The Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control issued itsfinal approval Dec. 29. The companies have identified potentialsavings of at least $10 million over the next five years. NortheastUtilities is New England’s biggest electric utility and Yankee Gasis Connecticut’s biggest gas distribution company.

Kinder Morgan announced the sale of Orcom Solutions to LivewireUtilities LLC for an undisclosed sum. Orcom was a wholly ownedsubsidiary of en*able, a 50-50 joint venture between KMI andPacifiCorp Group Holdings, Inc. Orcom is an application serviceprovider of billing and customer care services to the utility andenergy industry. “The sale of our interest in Orcom is consistent withour ‘back to basics’ strategy to focus on the operation of our corebusinesses and completes the process of exiting en*able and relatedactivities,” said Richard D. Kinder, chairman and CEO of KinderMorgan. “This transaction is another step in the execution of ourgameplan to divest our non-core assets, which we expect to complete inthe first quarter of this year.” The series of divestitures followsKinder Morgan’s $654 million merger with KN Energy last July (seeDaily GPI, July 12).

Amerada Hess’ board authorized spending $300 million torepurchase shares of Amerada Hess common stock. The stock will bepurchased from time to time in the open market or as otherwisepermitted under applicable rules. CEO John Hess said the decisionto repurchase shares is based on “progress to date in reshaping thecorporation’s asset base, the corporation’s improved earningsoutlook and strong financial position and the conviction of theboard and management that the corporation’s common stock is anexcellent investment.”

Charles M. Oglesby resigned from his position as chief executiveofficer of Reliant Energy’s Wholesale Group to pursue otherinterests. Oglesby was responsible for closing the acquisition ofthe Dutch power generation company, NV UNA, which was completedthis week, and for the establishment of the company’s Europeantrading business, Reliant Energy Trading and Marketing BV,headquartered in Amsterdam. Robert W. Harvey, Reliant Energy vicechairman, will assume direct responsibility for the company’sEuropean operations and will serve as chairman of the NV UNASupervisory Board. Joe Bob Perkins will continue as president andchief operating officer of the Wholesale Group.

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