Buys

An investor group including Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holdingcompany primarily involved in the property and casualty insurancebusinesses, jumped into the energy sector yesterday by purchasingMidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. for over $2 billion. Overall, thetotal enterprise value of the transaction is $9 billion.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (ConEd) announced the purchase ofNortheast Utilities (NU) last week, creating a huge utility withover five million electric and 1.4 million gas customers in NewYork and New England. ConEd expects the $7.5 billion transaction tobe completed in 12 to 18 months.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (ConEd) announced the purchase ofNortheast Utilities (NU) yesterday, creating a huge utility withover five million electric and 1.4 million gas customers in NewYork and New England. ConEd expects the $7.5 billion transaction tobe completed in 12 to 18 months.

Two Alberta-based producers, Cabre Exploration and Jet Energy,jointly announced a merger last week, in which Cabre will acquireJet and its 43.9 Bcf of proven reserves. Cabre said it will mailits offer to Jet shareholders no later than Oct. 18.

Coral Energy of Houston bought a liquefied natural gas (LNG)cargo from the North West Shelf Venture in Australia for deliveryinto the United States. The cargo of about 2.9 Bcf is Coral’ssecond recent LNG purchase.

Calpine Corp. announced it has bought the development rights tobuild, own and operate a 500 MW natural gas-fired cogen facility inPittsburg, CA, from Enron Corp. The Los Medanos Energy Center(formerly called the Pittsburg District Energy Facility) recentlywas licensed by the California Energy Commission after acomprehensive year-long environmental and technical review.Construction of the $350 million facility is underway.

Southwest Power LLC, an entity owned partly by Enron bought LasVegas Cogeneration LP and SUNCO Ltd. from The United Co. Las VegasCogeneration owns a 50 MW combined cycle power plant in North LasVegas. Designated as a qualifying facility under the PublicUtilities Regulatory Policy Act of 1978, the plant delivers powerunder contract to Nevada Power while SUNCO serves as the plant’sthermal host.

Calpine Corp. jumped into the center of the energy industryM&A activity last week, as it made bids to purchase Houston,TX-based Sheridan Energy and acquire 80% of Cogeneration Corp. ofAmerica (CGCA). Both mergers are expected to be completed by theend of the year.

The Orlando [FL] Utilities Commission (OUC) approved the sale ofthe municipal utility’s 619-MW Indian River Steam Generation Plant(IRP) to Reliant Energy for $205 million.