Merged

From its new corporate headquarters in San Diego, officials ofthe newly merged $6.2 billion Sempra Energy yesterday stronglypromoted their goal of expanding both utility and nonutilitybusinesses throughout the U.S. in the next 10 years as energyrestructuring spreads from state to state. It plans both highprofile marketing/branding and political campaigns to further itsgoal of being “one of the top five energy services companies inNorth America.”

The proposed merger of Pacific Enterprises and Enova Corp. wascleared by the U.S. Department of Justice following a settlementagreement that calls for the merged company to divest itsgeneration assets and seek additional DOJ approval of any purchasesof existing power plants exceeding 500 MW of capacity inCalifornia. It calls for Enova to follow through on its previouslyannounced auction of San Diego Gas & Electric’s (Enova’sprimary electric utility subsidiary) two fossil-fuel power plants,located in Carlsbad and Chula Vista, CA. The agreement ends DOJ’sreview and clears the merger under the notification requirements ofthe Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act.