Sempra Generation completes sale of Coleto Creek Power, other Topaz Power assets
SAN DIEGO, July 10, 2006 -- Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), today announced it has completed the sale of Coleto Creek Power and seven natural gas- and oil-powered Texas power plants that were part of the Topaz Power Group, jointly owned 50-50 with Riverstone Holdings, a New York-based energy private-equity firm.
The sale of Coleto Creek Power to International Power plc (L: IPR; NYSE: IPR) for $1.14 billion in cash was announced April 20, 2006. In addition, Sempra Generation has completed the sale of its 50-percent share of the seven other power plants in the Topaz Power Group to Riverstone Holdings. Terms of this sale were undisclosed.
The cash proceeds from the sales will be used to help fund Sempra Energy’s other capital projects, including liquefied natural gas receipt terminals, new interstate natural gas transmission pipelines and natural gas storage facilities.
In July 2004, Sempra Generation and Riverstone Holdings formed Topaz Power Group to purchase 10 power plants. Coleto Creek Power was the third of the 10 plants to be sold. Of the remaining seven plants purchased today by Riverstone Holdings, three remain in operation, including: Barney M. Davis, a 682-MW natural gas fueled plant in Corpus Christi; the Laredo Power Station, a 178-MW power plant in Laredo and the La Palma Power Station, a 255-MW plant located in San Benito.
Four idled plants involved in the agreement include: the 491-MW Victoria Power Station in Victoria; the Bates Power Station, a 182-MW facility in Palmview, and two Corpus Christi plants, the 559-MW Lon C. Hill Power Station and the 559-MW Nueces Bay Power Station.
Riverstone Holdings LLC and The Carlyle Group are the co-general partners of Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund(s). Riverstone, a New York-based energy and power focused private equity firm founded in 2000, has $6 billion under management. Riverstone conducts buyout and growth capital investments in the midstream, upstream, power, and oilfield service sectors of the energy industry. To date, the firm has committed $1.3 billion to 16 investments across each of these four sectors, involving $15 billion of assets. The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm with $35 billion under management. Carlyle invests in buyouts, venture capital, real estate and leveraged finance in North America, Europe and Asia. Since 1987, the firm has invested $14.9 billion of equity in 439 transactions.
Sempra Generation operates and maintains a fleet of power plants serving the Western U.S. market.
Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2005 revenues of $11.7 billion. The Sempra Energy companies’ 14,000 employees serve more than 29 million consumers in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America and Asia.
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Sempra Generation is not the same company as the utilities, SDG&E or SoCalGas, and is not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.