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Gold/Mining/Energy : CPN: Calpine Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (303)	2/14/2002 11:46:40 AM
From: Softechie	Respond to of 555

Calpine : $1B Credit Facility Seen Closed Within 1 Wk DOW JONES NEWSWIRES By Mark Golden Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -- Calpine Corp. (CPN) hopes to close on its new $1 billion credit line within a week, Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Cartwright said Thursday. "I haven't been directly involved with that," Cartwright said, but Bob Kelly, head of Calpine's financing unit, told Cartwright that it would close "within a week," Cartwright said. When asked what material issues remained to be resolved, Cartwright declined further comment. The company's disclosure Wednesday that it hadn't closed on the facility in January as expected raised concerns that sent the independent power producer's shares down 7%. Calpine's shares were trading Thursday up 19 cents at $8.18 after hitting a high of $8.40. The one-year, unsecured credit line, if closed, will allow the company to borrow $350 million and provide $1 billion in guaranteed backing from banks, and would augment an existing $400 million credit facility that expires in May 2003. Bank sources said the negotiations are at a delicate stage, with Calpine facing high interest rates. Debt and equity markets have put enormous pressure on merchant power companies such as Calpine due to lower wholesale electricity prices, which have collapsed since last spring, and the bankruptcy of Enron Corp. (ENRNQ). Calpine is trying to "overkill the concern about having enough cash to get through this year," Cartwright said, "without counting on power prices recovering." The independent power producer could "monetize" - which usually means sell - some $1.5 billion in non-core assets and receivables, Cartwright said. Calpine already sold a large receivable from PG&E Corp.'s (PCG) regulated utility unit Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Where possible, Calpine is slowing down construction of power plants already being built and has put all development projects on hold, Cartwright said. Calpine is also trying to "ringfence" its marketing and trade division, Calpine Energy Services, and obtain a high investment-grade credit rating for that group. Moody's Investors Service downgraded Calpine's credit ratings to junk-bond status in December, hampering the trading division's ability to transact in a very credit-conscious, post-Enron energy market. Many companies now trade only with companies that have investment-grade credit. Calpine is negotiating to outsource sales of large blocks of its power to "highly creditworthy agents" and may form joint ventures to combine its portfolio with other companies' less debt-laden balance sheets, Cartwright said. Issuing more stock to raise cash is "clearly not an attractive option given the low stock price currently," the chief executive said. -By Mark Golden, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4604; mark.golden@dowjones.com Updated February 14, 2002 10:39 a.m. EST