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American Electric Power has soft-circled Rabobank to lead non-recourse financing for a planned 162 MW wind farm project in Colorado. Construction has yet to begin and the deal is dependent on AEP wrapping up its protracted talks with GE Power about acquiring the project (PFR, 10/14). One banker characterizes the talks as now in the home straight with the focus on due diligence of permitting issues. Officials at Rabobank declined comment and calls to AEP were not returned. The wind farm, which has a price tag of $160 million, has a 15-year PPA in place with Xcel Energy. The potential size and term of the financing could not be determined.

A joint venture betweenAlcoa Aluminio, the Brazilian arm of Alcoa,Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, a Brazilian mining firm, and Camargo Correa, a local contractor, are targeting $385 million in non-recourse debt financing this year to fund the construction of Santa Isabel, a $550 million 1,087 MW hydroelectric power plant that they're developing in northeastern Brazil.

NRG Energy is expected to transfer ownership of its 680 MW Killingholme facility in Lincolnshire, northeast England, to the gas-fired power plant's bank creditors within the next month. Some due diligence work is still required, but it's a done deal, say officials involved in the talks. Calls to Stuart Jackson, head of NRG's U.K. operations, and company spokespersons, were not returned by press time.

Brooklyn, N.Y.-based KeySpan tapped the equity mart recently for $473 million after Credit Suisse First Boston made an unsolicited bid pitching the idea. Mike Taunton, treasurer, says the company took up the offer because the pace of an asset sale program aimed at strengthening its balance sheet was proving too slow. "We have a clear objective to maintain an A rating," he explains, adding that the equity issue provided a quicker way to deleverage.

Houston-based El Paso Corp. recently hired Salomon Smith Barney to advise on the sale of some of its U.S. power generation assets, which comprise more than 8,200 MW of capacity, says a New York banker familiar with the matter. He says El Paso and Salomon are presently determining which power plants should be placed on the block. Calls to Robert Hoglund, managing director in SSB's utilities mergers and acquisitions group, and Mel Scott, an El Paso spokesman, were not immediately returned at press time.

* British Energy, the troubled U.K. nuclear generator, and Robin Jeffrey, its ousted ceo, have failed to agree terms for a payoff some two months after they parted ways. Sources close to British Energy admit that Jeffrey is proving hard to dislodge from the board without triggering a large compensation payment (The Times, 1/27).

The Jackson Electric Authority (JEA) believes it can slice some 10% from its annual borrowing costs by tapping the bond market now. Hugh Van Seaton, manager, capital project financing in Jacksonville, Fla., says the savings will come from issuing $232 million of revenue bonds at sharply lower rates than a $239 million series it is refinancing. Seaton was unable to detail precise savings as the new offering has yet to price, but says the JEA is looking to achieve funding in the 5-5.5% range on bonds with staggered maturities from 2004-2013

Banc of America Securities has released Jay Schwartz, a managing director in its New York power and energy group. A banker close to the situation notes Schwartz will leave the firm when his contract expires next month, some 18 months after joining BofA. Calls to Schwartz and BofA spokesman Jeff Hershberger were not returned. Joseph Carey, head of natural resources, was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment.

KeySpan Energy is looking to set up $300 million of off-balance sheet financing for a 250 MW expansion to its massive Ravenswood Generating Station on the Queens side of the East River in New York City. Mike Taunton, treasurer in Brooklyn, New York, says the company is considering sale-leaseback financing or traditional non-recourse debt, with the key determining factor being whichever is the cheapest.

Abbey National Treasury Services has begun releasing its project finance staffers and also has started receiving bids for credits within its $1.5 billion U.S. power book. The moves come in the wake of the U.K. bank's decision to wind down its non-recourse lending business late last year (PFR, 12/9).