NRG Yield Inc. (NYLD) said it has agreed to pay $870 to acquire
the Alta Wind Energy Center, the largest wind farm in North
America.
The center, located in the Tehachapi, Calif., area north of Los
Angeles, is owned by an affiliate of private-equity firms Global
Infrastructure Partners and ArcLight Capital Partners LLC and has
947 megawatts of operating wind capacity.
NRG Yield said it plans to fund the purchase, which includes the
assumption of $1.6 billion of non-recourse project financings,
through a combination of newly issued debt, equity and cash on
hand.
The deal is expected to be immediately beneficial to cash
available for distribution per share and is seen closing in the
third quarter.
Electricity generator NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) in July spun off
power-plan operator NRG Yield to own and operate some of its
assets.
NRG Yield's announcement confirms a Tuesday report in The Wall
Street Journal that said NRG Energy was nearing a deal to acquire
the wind farm.
Alta Wind's farms have long-term agreements with Southern
California Edison, a unit of Edison International that serves more
than 14 million people in the region.
Princeton, N.J.-based NRG Energy, meanwhile, is one of the
biggest electricity producers in the U.S. The company already owns
wind farms in Arizona, Minnesota, Texas and Wyoming.
In April, NRG bought a unit of Edison International that owns
wind farms and other assets out of bankruptcy in a $2.6 billion
deal.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com
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