Sweetened

NRG Energy Inc. management last week spurned a sweetened all-stock merger offer from Exelon Corp. but told the company that if it tries harder, it might succeed. Several financial analysts sided with NRG, which would seem to give the ball back to Exelon, even though the company said its latest offer was “final.”

Chevron Corp.’s sweetened bid for Unocal Corp. won’t affect Chevron’s credit ratings (Aa2 senior long-term, Prime-1 commercial paper), Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday. Chevron increased the cash portion of its offer for Unocal on Wednesday to $7.5 billion from $4.4 billion, valuing the total transaction at $17.8 billion, including a reduced amount of net debt to be assumed (see Daily GPI, July 21). Unocal’s board has recommended that its shareholders approve the proposed merger in a special meeting scheduled for Aug. 10.

NiSource finally sweetened its unsolicited offer for Columbia Energy Group with a $74/share ($6.1 billion) bid last week — up from the prior offer of $68/share. It also laid down an olive branch by inviting five of Columbia’s top managers, including CEO Oliver G. “Rick” Richard, to take seats on an expanded NiSource board. Richard was offered a vice chairmanship.

NiSource finally sweetened its offer for Columbia Energy Groupyesterday to $74/share ($6.1 billion) from $68/share and laid downan olive branch by inviting five of Columbia’s top managers,including CEO Oliver G. “Rick” Richard, to take seats on anexpanded NiSource board. Richard was offered a vice chairmanship.