National Grid, the owner of Britain's gas and electricity transmission networks, yesterday became the third largest energy supplier in the US after buying one of America's leading gas distributors in a £6.8bn cash deal.
The debt-financed acquisition of KeySpan, which is based on the north-eastern seaboard, is Grid's fifth US takeover since 2000 and means that it will now make more of its profits in America than the UK. ...
... Steve Holliday, who takes over as Grid's chief executive at the end of the year, signalled there was more American expansion to come as the company added to its gas distribution business. He did not rule out moving beyond the north-east of the US, which Grid has made its home since the initial £2.6bn purchase of New England Electric System six years ago.
This latest deal will increase Grid's US customer numbers to 7.7 million - making it the country's third largest gas distributor and seventh biggest electricity supplier. KeySpan is the biggest gas supplier in the north-eastern US, with 2.6 million customers in New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It also has an electricity transmission and distribution business in Long Island serving 1.1 million customers and 6,700 megawatts of electricity-generating capacity. ...
Meanwhile, DPW is still trying to silence Lou Dobbs. ... I wouldn't bet on it...
BTW Keyspan is variously described as the largest natural gas distributor in the Northeast and the fifth largest overall in theU.S. The largest natural gas distributors in the U.S. are Texas-based Atmos Energy (#1) which services the Southwest, and the other is probably Pacificorp in the West, which takes care of California, Oregon, Washington State, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. Pacificorp was bought six years ago by a European company called Scottish Power. More on that from the Telegraph UK:
The company insisted that its empire building would not come unstuck in the same way as ScottishPower's disastrous acquisition of Pacificorp in the mid-west six years ago. The company was eventually sold to Warren Buffett last year for $5.1bn.
Steve Holliday, who will succeed Roger Urwin as chief executive in December, said this deal was different because National Grid already operates subsidiaries in neighbouring states and only a tiny minority of its workers - just 20 out of 10,000 - are expatriates. "It is run by Americans. This is very different from ScottishPower's model," he said. ...
...The deal is subject to five separate regulatory clearances and should be completed by summer 2007. Executives telephoned local politicians on Sunday evening, including New York senator Hillary Clinton, to explain the deal and ensure that it was politically acceptable.
U.S.-based Consolidated Edison of New York (aka ConEd if you've lived in the NYC...) wanted to buy KeySpan, which it used to own, but it faced anti-trust problems, and so lost out to the UK co.
It's called globalization, folks, and it isn't coming, it's here.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
