Iberdrola to reconsider Energy East buy if NY court conditions not reasonable
Posted by CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE at 8:59 AMMADRID, Apr. 10, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Iberdrola SA (OOTC:IBDSF) (OOTC:IBDRY) would reconsider its planned buy of Energy East (NYSE:EAS) , for some 6 billion euros, if the conditions imposed by the New York State Public Service Commission (NYPSC) are 'not reasonable,' ABC reported, citing comments by Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan.
'If the conditions are reasonable, we hope to complete the acquisition before the third quarter of the year,' in line with the original deadline set by the Basque utility, he added.
Over the last few months press reports have flagged that the deal could be blocked by the NYPSC on concerns about a possible carve-up of Iberdrola's assets in the event of a takeover bid.
The utility has reportedly been in the sights of EDF, perhaps in a joint offensive with core shareholder Actividades de Construccion y Serivicios SA, although more recently a domestic tie-up between Iberdrola and Gas Natural SDG SA (NYSE:GNN) has been tipped as the most likely scenario.
ABC noted that the NYPSC is the only authoritative body in the U.S. which has not given the green light to the East Energy (OOTC:EECFF) (TSXV:EEC) buy, a deal which is key to Iberdrola's expansion plans in the U.S.