Portland General buys PacifiCorp's Washington assets for $1.9bn

(Sharecast News) - Portland General Electric on Tuesday said it has agreed $1.9bn deal to buy the wind, natural-gas generation and distribution assets of PacifiCorp in Washington state. The deal includes three generation facilities, 4,500 miles of transmission and distribution lines and local utility operations across 2,700 square miles that serve about 140,000 customers, Portland General and the Berkshire Hathaway-owned PacifiCorp said.

Portland General currently serves around 950,000 customers. The acquisition is being backed by Manulife Investment Management, the asset management arm of Manulife Financial, which will take a minority stake.

PacifiCorp, which Berkshire acquired in 2006 for around $5 billion, said the sale was a "targeted step toward ensuring the continued delivery of safe, reliable power to our nearly two million customers in the West and Intermountain West".

"This will improve the company's financial stability while simplifying our operations to support our long-term commitment to customers in each of our remaining states," said chief executive Darin Carroll.

"Diverging policies among the six states PacifiCorp serves have created extraordinary pressure, affecting the company's ability to meet demand reliably and at the lowest cost to customers. These challenges have impacted the company's financial stability, liquidity and credit ratings."

He added that the sale was a "critical step in strengthening PacifiCorp's financial position and simplifying operations across its service area".

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com