Oregon Regulators Reject Utility’s Sale to Buyout Firm
Oregon’s utility regulators voted unanimously on Thursday to reject a $2.3 billion bid by a private equity firm, the Texas Pacific Group, for the state’s largest utility, saying the firm had “failed to establish” that the deal would be in the public interest.
The chairman of the Oregon Public Utility Commission, Lee Beyer, said that “the potential harms or risks” to customers of the utility, Portland General Electric, “outweigh the potential benefits.” He said the financing of the deal, including $700 million of additional debt as well as concerns that Texas Pacific would own the utility only for a short time, were major factors in the decision. Advertisement
The fate of Portland G.E. has attracted attention beyond Oregon, in part because it is owned by the Enron Corporation, now operating under bankruptcy protection. Indeed, it was the only energy-producing asset that Enron actually owned.
But the deal has also been considered important as a test of whether private equity firms, which by their nature do not publicly disclose their finances, could win regulatory approval to buy utilities.
Hours after the Oregon regulators announced their decision, Mayor Tom Potter of Portland said the city would try to acquire the utility’s assets from Enron’s creditors.
The federal bankruptcy court in the Enron case has the authority to instead distribute Portland G.E. shares to the creditors.
Mayor Potter said at a news conference that a city-owned utility would charge “the lowest possible rates” and would have a natural interest in reliable service because “Portland General Electric’s customers and owners would be one in the same.”
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