Following through on expressions of interest in recent weeks, San Diego, CA-based Sempra Energy’s trading unit announced Tuesday it has purchased London, UK-based Enron Metals Ltd. for $145 million, subject to a final audit of the net assets. The deal for the leading metals trader on the London Metals Exchange (LME) is expected to be completed Monday (Feb. 4, 2002), Sempra said.

Upon closing the transaction, Enron Metals will be renamed Sempra Metals Ltd. and continue to be based in London with much of its senior management intact, reporting to David Messer, the president of Connecticut-based Sempra Energy Trading, . The transaction is expected to be accretive to Sempra Energy’s 2002 earnings, the company said.

Enron Metals Limited is the former Metallgesellschaft Ltd. brokering and market-making business that was floated in 1970 on the London Stock Exchange in September 1999 and subsequently acquired by Enron Corp. in July 2000.

Noting that this purchase further expands Sempra Energy’s trading and risk-management capabilities in the global marketplace and enhances Sempra Energy Trading’s position as a “premier commodity trading firm,” Don Felsinger, group president of Sempra Energy’s global enterprises, said the metals brokering and market-making firm has been profitable for 30 years, “and we expect this track record of success to continue, adding new value for our shareholders.”

Messer called the firm “one of the most experienced and successful metals-trading management groups in the industry.” He emphasized the company views the purchase as “strategic” because it sees the energy trading and metals trading businesses as having “natural synergies” since some of the largest energy users in the world are metals producers. “We see tremendous opportunity to expand risk-management services for our current customer base, as well as attract new customers with our ability to structure cross-commodity deals.”

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.