“TXU, the largest energy provider in Texas, agreed last night to a $45 billion buyout that would not only be the largest private-equity deal in history but would also feature an unusual twist: The buyers have promised environmental groups they would cancel a slew of coal-fired power plants on the firm’s drawing boards.
The buyout firms’ deal with environmental groups, which could become a landmark in the battle over climate-change policy, would force an abrupt turnaround in the strategy of TXU, which has defied environmentalists’ and congressional criticism of its plans to expand coal use and carbon dioxide emissions.
The environmental agreement was the idea of the private-equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which made it a condition of the acquisition, according to several sources involved in the negotiations, who gave details of the deal on condition of anonymity because it had not been announced yet…
If shareholders approve the acquisition, TXU would back federal legislation that would require reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade system. It would shelve plans for eight of 11 coal-fired plants that current TXU executives had proposed for Texas and would drop plans to build new coal plants in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The company would also double its spending to promote energy efficiency, to $80 million a year, for five years…In return, Environmental Defense, which has been leading the fight against TXU’s coal expansion plans, would drop its objections to the three large new units, including two 800-megawatt units at Oak Grove, Tex., and a 600-megawatt plant at Sandow, Tex. The private-equity firms held an initial round of talks on Friday with another environmental group that opposes the Oak Grove units.”
Want to learn more?
Listen to ‘How Environmentalists Shaped TXU Deal’ (npr.org)