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Project finance lenders are open to funding new generation projects so long as the plants have contracted offtakers, according to Société Générale's annual survey of lender sentiment. Ninety-seven percent of banks say they will look at deals with good clients that have strong offtake counterparties, according to the survey, which also underlined the fact that the merchant field is pretty much closed to business. Just 3% of lenders will look at deals exposed to the merchant power market.

Macquarie Bank is looking to establish a natural gas trading desk in the U.S. by year-end to complement the gas and oil derivatives business it launched in Europe and Australia in the fourth quarter.

Merrillville, Ind.-based NiSource has decided not to renew an expiring $500 million 364-day revolver and will instead rely on an existing $1.25 billion term loan to cover its liquidity needs.

Jay Worenklein, global head of project finance at Société Générale in New York, is forming a new company to own and operate power generation assets. Worenklein, a 30-year veteran of the project finance sector, says the degree to which generation assets are undervalued provides too attractive an opportunity to miss. "I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I've never had a really good idea before," he told PFR, explaining the reason for the timing of his departure.

Bill Coorsh, president and managing director of RWE Trading Americas in Houston, has left the firm. Coorsh joined the U.S. arm of Germany's second largest utility two years ago from Tractebel Energy Marketing in Houston, where he was head of origination and marketing, and is widely credited with setting up the trading operations at Tractebel and subsequently at RWE Trading Americas. Coorsh, reached at home in Houston, declined comment.

Edison Mission Energy is facing pressure from bondholders to refinance a GBP400 million ($625 million) non-recourse bond offering, a move that could lead to the deal being put back to the borrower, which in turn could push Edison to turn ownership of the 2,088 MW First Hydro pumped-storage facility in Wales over to bondholders. First Hydro is one of the few U.K. facilities financed by non-recourse bonds and investors fear their position has been significantly weakened by the collapse in wholesale power prices.

Trafigura Group, a privately owned commodity trading company headquartered in Lucerne, Switzerland, has hired David Mooney, formerly global head of commodities at Bank of America in New York. Mooney started in London last week in a new position heading up power and natural gas trading, according to an official at the company in London. The proprietary trading shop hired Mooney because it sees opportunities resulting from upheaval in the power and gas market, he explains, adding Trafigura expects to make further hires. Mooney declined comment.

*Calder Hall, the world's first and oldest industrial-scale nuclear power station, at Sellafield, U.K., is to close on March 31, 47 years after it was commissioned. The 11 other magnox nuclear plants in the U.K. accounting for 10% of the country's generation market, are scheduled to be closed over the next five years (The Guardian, 22/3).

Commonwealth Edison will use the proceeds from the sale of $200 million of trust preferred securities completed last Monday to refinance $200 million of similar notes that come due this month. The 30-year securities were issued with a 6.35% dividend compared with the 8.48% rate of the maturing securities, says Trent Frager, a spokesman for ComEd. The hybrid securities were issued by ComEd Financing III, a special-purpose entity formed by ComEd for the sole purpose of refinancing securities issued by ComEd Financing I. ComEd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exelon, is a regulated transmission and distribution utility serving about 3.5 million customers in northern Illinois.

Milwaukee, Wis.-based Wisconsin Energy tapped the 30-year end of the fixed-income mart last week paying a 6.2% coupon for the deal. Jeff West, treasurer, says the funds will be used to pay down some commercial paper. "Interest rates are at 40-year lows," he notes by way of explaining the rationale for locking rates at the 30-year maturity. He adds this makes it a compelling financing, even though in the short term the debt becomes more expensive because near-end rates are even lower.