Duke Energy Corp. has reached deals to sell the bulk of its international energy business for about $2.4 billion, roughly the lowered value of the businesses in its books.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke, which last year bought Piedmont Natural Gas as it shifted focus to its regulated utilities business in the U.S., will keep its equity investment in Saudi Arabia’s National Methanol Co.
Under the two deals disclosed Monday, I Squared Capital, the New York firm founded by former Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure team bankers, will take over Duke’s businesses in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina. That deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.
Meanwhile, China Three Gorges Corp.—the state-controlled company behind China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project—agreed to buy Duke’s Brazilian operations. Both deals are valued around $1.2 billion each.
A stronger dollar had particularly hurt Duke’s international operations, lowering the book value or carrying value of the businesses by about $589 million, according to regulatory filings.
For the first six months of the year, Duke reported the segment yielded profit of $21 million, or $166 million on an adjusted basis, compared with $88 million a year earlier.
Duke’s stock closed Monday at $77.06, up 8% this year.
[Source:-Wall Street Journal]
