Gates Buys Stake in Electric Co.
Received via email from TM
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. - Bill Gates, the founder and chairman of Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), has purchased just over a 5 percent stake in electric utility Otter Tail Power Co. (NasdaqNM:OTTR - news), according to regulatory filings.
Cascade Investment LLC, the private investment firm that buys stock for Gates, has purchased 1,201,400 shares of Otter Tail's stock in his name, according to a statement filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares represent 5.04 percent of the Fergus Falls-based company.
The document did not say what day the shares were bought, but based Thursday's closing price of $22.683/4, the purchase cost Gates about $27.6 million. Otter Tail's jumped, $3, or 13 percent, on Friday to end at $26.
``We were wondering why he chose Otter Tail,'' Otter Tail president and chief executive John MacFarlane said Friday. ``We don't really know a whole lot.''
It's possible Gates wasn't even involved in the decision. ``He probably doesn't even know he owns it,'' he added.
Whenever a person or company buys more than 5 percent of a company, a report must be filed with the SEC.
Friday's report classified the Otter Tail purchase as a ``passive investment'' - meaning Gates does not intend to take over the company, MacFarlane said.
The purchase makes Gates one of Otter Tail's largest stockholders. Around 10 percent of the company is owned by its employees. MacFarlane wasn't sure whether any other individuals own as much as 5 percent.
Otter Tail supplies electricity to more than 125,000 customers in Minnesota and the Dakotas. The company also makes medical imaging equipment and is involved in cable TV and telephone services through its Bismarck, N.D.-based Midwest Information Systems.
Otter Tail had 1999 earnings of $45 million on sales of $464.5 million.
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