Mergers

The best laid plans of energy titans can often go astray,particularly where mergers are concerned. ExxonMobil tossed a wrenchinto the BP Amoco-ARCO merger works by suing for a preliminaryinjunction against the merger partners and PhillipsPetroleum. Phillips has agreed to buy ARCO’s Alaskan holdings forabout $7 billion in a deal intended to win Federal Trade Commissionapproval of the merger (see Daily GPI, March17).

FERC yesterday approved the mergers of Illinova Corp. and DynegyInc. and Dominion Resources Inc. and Consolidated Natural Gas(CNG). But it placed conditions on its blessing of the lattermerger transaction, citing competitive concerns.

Marking a clean sweep through the shareholder votes of its threepotential mergers, Energy East announced yesterday that stockholders of CTG Resources had “overwhelmingly” approved the proposeddeal. Energy East said it expects the CTG merger to be finalized bythe end of the second quarter next year. The CTG shareholdersapproved the transaction yesterday at a special meeting inHartford, CT.

There have been 26 natural gas utility mergers announced since1995, with 15 of them occurring in the past year and seven in themonth of June alone. And there are “many more” to come, accordingto a Merrill Lynch report released last week.

There have been 26 natural gas utility mergers announced since1995, with 15 of them coming in the past year and seven in themonth of June alone. And there are “many more” to come, accordingto a Merrill Lynch report released last week.

In what one observer described as one of the first “blunders”among energy mergers, Sempra Energy and KN Energy last weekmutually agreed to call off their $6 billion marriage, which wasfirst announced in February.

In what one observer described as one of the first “blunders”among energy mergers, Sempra Energy and KN Energy said yesterdaythey have mutually agreed to call off their $6 billion marriage,which was first announced in February. The two companies said thatas they were studying the integration process they discovered thecombined company “would not be able to realize the businessobjectives they originally anticipated.”

The pace of announced mergers and acquisitions (M&ampA) haspicked up steam in the last few weeks because electric utilitiesare realizing that the pool of potential natural gas targets isquickly dwindling, according to a Merrill Lynch &amp Co. report.

Texaco joined the growing crowd of producers revising downwardcapital expenditures for 1999. The company said its 1999 capexwould total $3.7 billion, including subsidiaries and affiliates,down $600 million from its original $4.3 billion plan. Chevron,Arco and Unocal announced similar reductions last month.