July 31, 2020 • EPE Related News
El Paso Electric sale can be completed after federal agency's final approval
El Paso Electric sale can be completed after federal agency's final approval
El Paso Electric's pending $4.3 billion sale can now be completed after a federal regulatory agency gave its final approval Wednesday.
The Federal Energy Regulation Commission, or FERC, approved a proposed mitigation plan to change power contracts at the Mesquite power plant in Arizona.
The agency on March 30 approved the sale, but did not allow it to be concluded until the mitigation plan was approved.
The JP Morgan Chase-tied Infrastructure Investments Fund, or IIF, agreed in June 2019 to buy El Paso Electric for $4.3 billion, including assuming the utility's $1.5 billion in debt.
The sale had been scheduled to be completed by June 1, but El Paso Electric and IIF extended the deadline to Sept. 1 because of the pending FERC approval of their proposed power plant contract mitigation plan.
Officials with El Paso Electric and IIF had no immediate comments about FERC's decision, and when the sale is expected to be completed.
The federal agency also rejected a request for a rehearing by three U.S. senators, including former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
It also reaffirmed its earlier decision rejecting arguments against the sale made by Public Citizen, a national consumer watchdog group.
Public Citizen and the senators raised questions and concerns about JP Morgan Chase's ties to IIF. Those were dismissed in the FERC order as not relevant to the federal agency's approval of the proposed sale.
It took a year for the proposed sale to wind its way through regulatory reviews from Texas, New Mexico, federal agencies, and El Paso City Council. And it took FERC just over three months to issue its ruling on the mitigation proposal submitted April 15 by El Paso Electric and IIF.
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