Exelon offers to buy NRG for 6.2 billion dollars

[NRG is the company that is trying to add two more units to the South Texas Project that currently has two operating units. They are trying to get ABWRs licensed through Toshiba rather than GE. I will post again as more news comes out on this possible merger.]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081020/bs_afp/usenergycompanytakeoverexelonnrgenergy_081020074450


Mon Oct 20, 3:44 am ET

WASHINGTON, (AFP) – US energy company Exelon has offered to buy its competitor, NRG Energy, for 6.2 billion dollars in a deal which would create a national energy giant worth about 60 billion dollars.
The offer represents a 37-percent premium on the October 17 closing price for NRG shares.
In a letter delivered on Sunday to NRG President and chief executive office David Crane and Chairman Howard Cosgrove, Exelon proposed to acquire all of NRG's outstanding common stock in an all-stock transaction.
The proposed terms were for a fixed exchange ratio of 0.485 Exelon shares for each NRG share, which represents a value of approximately 26.43 dollars for each share.
"We believe a combination of Exelon and NRG would represent an exceptional value for shareholders of both companies," John Rowe, chairman and CEO of Exelon, said in a statement.
"This combination would not only diversify Exelon's generation portfolio geographically, it would also create immediate earnings and cash flow accretion."
He added that an Exelon-NRG combination would result in an enterprise valued at approximately 60 billion dollars with a generating capacity of around 47,000 megawatts, or enough electricity to serve nearly 45 million homes.
Rowe invited NRG's CEO and board of directors to join him in merger talks in order to create a more efficient company.
Chicago-based Exelon Corporation is one of the nation's largest electric utilities with nearly $19 billion in annual revenues.
The company, which has 17,800 employees, has one of the industry's largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, said company officials.
Exelon distributes electricity to approximately 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois and Pennsylvania and natural gas to 480,000 customers in the Philadelphia area.