Status: Clearance

Acquirer: Cleco Energy LLC (US); Cleco Partners L.P. (Canada)

Acquired: NRG South Central Generating LLC (US)

Value: Approximately US$1 billion

Industry: Energy; Regulated Utilities

UPDATE:  On February 6, 2018, Cleco Cajun (formerly Cleco Energy LLC) entered into the “Purchase and Sale Agreement with NRG Energy and NRG South Central” for approximately US$1.0 billion concerning the acquisition of: “(i) a 176-MW natural-gas-fired generating station located in Sterlington, Louisiana, (ii) a 220-MW natural-gas-fired facility and a 210-MW natural-gas-fired peaking facility, both located in Jarreau, Louisiana, (iii) a 580-MW coal-fired generating facility, a 540-MW natural-gas-fired generating station, and 58% of a 588-MW coal-fired generating station all located in New Roads, Louisiana, (iv) 225 MW of a 300-MW natural-gas-fired peaking facility located in Jennings, Louisiana, and (v) a 1,263-MW natural-gas-fired generating station located in Deweyville, Texas (the Cottonwood Plant) …”  (Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC, Form 10-Q, SEC Filing, Aug. 31, 2018.)  “On March 27, 2018, Cleco filed an application with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States seeking approval of the transaction.” (Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC, Form 10-Q, SEC Filing, May 2, 2018.)   “On June 19, 2018, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved and cleared Cleco’s application for the transaction to proceed.”  (Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC, Form 10-Q, SEC Filing, Aug. 31, 2018.)

Posted February 12, 2018

Status: Upcoming/New Filing

On February 7, 2018, NRG Energy, Inc., an integrated power generation and distribution company based in New Jersey, announced that it entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with Cleco Energy LLC, a generation and distribution utility company headquartered in Louisiana and subsidiary of Cleco Partners L.P., whereby Cleco Energy will purchase NRG South Central Generating LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy. (See NRG Energy, Inc., Form 8-K, Feb. 7, 2018, SEC Filing.) According to a November 2016 investor presentation, Cleco Partners is a Delaware limited partnership that is approximately 54% held by  Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and approximately 37% held by British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, both Canadian based investment entities. (Cleco Investor Presentation, 51st EEI Financial Conference, Nov. 6-9, 2016 ; see also Description of Transaction and Public Interest Statement, Federal Communications Commission.) NRG South Central Generating “owns and operates a 3,555 MW portfolio of generation assets consisting of 225 MW Bayou Cove, 430 MW Big Cajun-I, 1,461 MW Big Cajun-II, 1,263 MW Cottonwood and 176 MW Sterlington, and serves a customer base of cooperatives, municipalities and regional utilities under load contracts.” (NRG Energy Press Release, NRG Announces Asset Sales, Feb. 7, 2018.) The transaction “is subject to various customary closing conditions, approvals and consents; including . . . Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) …” (Id.; see NRG Energy, Inc., Form 8-K, Feb. 7, 2018, SEC Filing.)