Strategy

Continuing its aggressive acquisitions strategy, Atmos EnergyCorp. said last week it has reached a definitive agreement to pay$375 million for the gas operations of two Citizens Utilities Co.distribution subsidiaries – Louisiana Gas Service Co. and LGSNatural Gas Co. Atmos said the acquisitions will make it thelargest natural gas distributor in Louisiana with 359,000customers.

After engaging in a Northeast LDC eating binge last year, EnergyEast Corp. started the digestion phase of its strategy yesterday byannouncing the completion of its Connecticut Energy purchase. Thetransaction gives Energy East control over Southern Connecticut GasCo., an LDC serving 160,000 customers. The original purchase offerwas made last April for $617 million. Energy East (formerly knownas NYSEG) still has a full plate, however, as its transactions withCTG Resources, CMP Energy and Berkshire Energy are still beingprocessed. Following the completion of all the acquisitions, EnergyEast will have more than 1.3 million electric customers and morethan 542,000 gas customers, excluding any added through CMP NaturalGas, the Maine gas distribution partnership of Energy East and CMP.With CTG and Connecticut Energy, Energy East becomes the largestgas distributor in the state with about 300,000 customers.

Marking the continuation of a successful 1999 strategy, EnronEnergy Services (EES), a subsidiary of Enron Corp., announcedyesterday it has signed the Chase Manhattan Corp. to a 10-year,$750 million energy management agreement.

Continuing its strategy to be a heavy hitter in the Gulf Coast natural gas liquids market, Enterprise Products Partners LP of Houston last week acquired Tejas Natural Gas Liquids LLC from Shell Oil affiliate Tejas Energy LLC and signed a long-term gas processing agreement with Shell for its entire bounty of Gulf of Mexico gas production. The deal was announced in April.

Few traders would dispute that Wednesday was a classic day forwanting to buy early and sell late. Sources reported prices risingsteadily during trading at virtually every point, with the highends of ranges occurring late in the morning. Increases of a dimeor more dominated the market, and Northeast citygates were seeingthe high side of $3 again in some deals.

SCANA Corp. announced it is refocusing its marketing strategy onthe retail business in the Southeast and is shutting down itsHouston office and its wholesale gas marketing operation. Thecompany would not say how much natural gas its wholesale operationhandles on a daily basis.

SCANA Corp. announced it is refocusing its marketing strategy onthe retail business in the Southeast and is shutting down itsHouston office and its wholesale gas marketing operation. Thecompany would not say how much natural gas its wholesale operationhandles on a daily basis.

International power generation developer AES Corp. continued anaggressive acquisition strategy yesterday with the purchase of all13.6 million shares of Peoria, IL-based CILCORP, parent of CentralIllinois Light Co., for $65 per share, a 22% premium. The value ofthe transaction is about $885 million.

Without one-time charges, MCN Energy lost plenty in the thirdquarter, and a huge hit of $2.14/share in nonrecurring chargesdidn’t help at all.