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Technology Stocks : Newbridge Networks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: norm chin who wrote (8509)	12/14/1998 12:36:00 AM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18016

Energis is NN's customer. Wonder if New England Electric will be. December 14, 1998 The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition]> New England Electric Consents To Acquisition by National Grid By LAURA JOHANNES Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL New England Electric System said it agreed to be acquired for $3.2 billion by National Grid Group PLC, an electricity provider in England and Wales. Under the deal, National Grid will pay $53.75 for each New England Electric share and also assume $1 billion in debt, a New England Electric spokesperson said. Officials of National Grid, based in Coventry, England, couldn't immediately be reached. The acquisition is the latest in a string of utility mergers sparked by deregulation. <Picture: [Go]>BEC and Commonwealth Energy Announce Agreement to Combine (Dec. 7) New England Electric shares were unchanged Friday at $43 on the New York Stock Exchange. New England Electric, Westborough, Mass., has 1.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. It is the second-largest electric utility in New England, after Northeast Utilities. New England Electric Chief Executive Officer Richard Sergel was in England and couldn't be reached for comment late Sunday. The deal is scheduled to be announced at a joint news conference Monday, a spokesperson said. Analysts had predicted that New England Electric would be under considerable pressure to merge after last week's announcement that BEC Energy, the parent company of Boston Edison Co., agreed to acquire Commonweath Energy System for $950 million in cash and stock. A Massachusetts electricity-deregulation law, which passed March 1, has created strong incentives for electric companies to sell off their generating plants and related assets. Separating the generation of electricity from its delivery is supposed to create greater competition among utilities and lower rates for customers. Furthermore, global consolidation of the power and natural-gas industry has made U.S. power companies attractive targets for foreign utilities. Indeed, National Grid had publicly said it was interested in the U.S. market and had held discussions with executives from several utilities in the U.S. in recent years. National Grid's planned acquisition of New England Electric follows the announcement last week of Scottish Power PLC's agreement to buy PacifiCorp of Portland, Ore., in a transaction valued at more than $7 billion. If that acquisition goes ahead, it would mark the first time a foreign company has purchased a major U.S. electric utility.>>>>