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Mirant has taken three Massachusetts power plants off the auction block because it is close to reaching a $1.6 billion fundraising goal, says a New York banker close to the sales process. The company had been looking to unload the three Bay State plants as part of plans to inject fresh capital into the beleaguered IPP, shore up its balance sheet and maintain its credit rating (PFR, 4/8).David Payne, a Mirant spokesman, declined comment on the matter. Marce Fuller, president and ceo of Mirant, told PFR last month that the IPP had received competitive bids for $200-300 million of generation assets (PFR, 6/24). Calls to Fuller last week were not returned.

An Israeli affiliate of Siemens has been awarded a government contract to build, own and operate a 350 MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant in southern Israel. An official close to the matter says Israel's Ministry of National Infrastructure selected OPC Rotem, a Siemens-sponsored SPV, at the end of last month, after a year-long bidding process and has asked the company to have financing in place by 2004 and construction of the plant completed by 2006. The project is expected to cost some $400 million to complete. Siemens did not respond to calls.

American Electric Power has awarded Fortis Bank the mandate to refinance at the project level its recent $175 million acquisition of a Texan wind farm. Project financiers say details of the financing have not been determined, but note among other options AEP has been looking at a $120 million package with a 10-15 year tenor.David Hagelin, an AEP spokesman, declined to comment. Calls to Fortis Bank were not returned.

Daisy Yow, a project financier at Citibank in New York covering the energy markets for the Americas, relocated to the bank's Hong Kong office at the beginning of this month to cover the Asian energy industry. A banker close to the matter says, "The energy sector in the Americas has taken a lot of blows in recent months, so it makes sense that her coverage area has changed."

Franklin Templeton Investments (Asia) in Hong Kong has hired Joanne Wong, an analyst covering China at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), as a research analyst for the region's power and gas utility sector. Wong joined Franklin Templeton last week, replacing Nicola Daniel, who left for personal reasons last year, said Allan Chua, an analyst and portfolio manager for the industrial sector. Wong declined to comment, referring questions to Norm Boersma, head of research in Toronto. Boersma was travelling and could not be reached. A spokeswoman at CSFB said it does not have a direct replacement for Wong but is looking to expand the team.

Bonds Maturity Issue Date Issuer Amount ($ mil) Offer Price Type of Security Coupon (%) OfferYield (%) Moody Rating Standard & Poor's Rating Book Manager(s) 1/12/05 1/12/00 GPU Inc 299.4 99.81 Senior Notes 7.7 7.746 Baa1 A- SALOMON-SMITH 7/12/02 4/12/00 PSE&G 300 100 FRNs Floats Floats Baa1 BBB+ LEHMAN Equity Maturity Issue Date Issuer Amount ($ mil) Offer Price Type of Security Coupon (%) OfferYield (%) Moody Rating Standard & Poor's Rating Book Manager(s) - 30/11/2000 NiSource Inc 252.5 25.25 Common Shares - - - - CSFB M&A Date Date Target Target Acquiror Acquiror Acquiror Value Announced Effective Name Country Industry Sector Country ($mil) 11/30/00 - CERJ(Empresa Nacional de) Brazil Chilectra Electric, Gas, and Water Distribution" Chile 75 11/30/00 11/30/00 Djuro Djakovic Thermo Electric Croatia Austrian Energy & Environment Machinery Austria - 12/4/00 - Apollo Gas Canada Eagle Tail Energy Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining Canada 5.4 12/4/00 - GEW Koeln (Cologne) Germany RWE Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining Germany - 12/4/00 12/4/00 MidSouth Utilities United States Conumers North Carolina Water Electric, Gas, and Water Distribution" United States 1.1 Source: Thomson Financial Securities Data Company. For more information, call Rich Peterson at (973) 645-9701.

Lead banks Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and Société Générale have wrapped up syndication of a $160 million non-recourse loan that will be used to finance the construction of the Termopernambuco generation project in Brazil. An official close to the matter says that six other banks committed to the deal. Caja Madrid signed up for a $20 million ticket and Banesto, Banco Santander Central Hispano, Transamerica, and Fortis also made commitments of $10-15 million. He adds that the first disbursements of the funds will be released in two weeks.

WestLB has cut two managing directors, Richard Slocum and Arminee Bowler, from its New York project finance and loan syndication team. Slocum and Bowler, both well-known names in the U.S. power project finance market, have already left the firm and could not be reached for comment. Calls to Manfred Knoll, who heads up structured finance in the U.S., and Howard Moseson, managing director, loan syndication and debt capital markets, were not returned by press time.

Greenhill & Co. has hired Richard Morse, U.K. power banking chief at Goldman Sachs, to forge a presence for the transatlantic advisory boutique in the European power market. Morse will join Greenhill in October after three months of gardening leave. He becomes the firm's 18th London-based partner.

Following is a directory of ongoing generation asset sales. The accuracy of the information, which is derived from many sources, is deemed reliable but cannot be guaranteed. To report new auctions or changes in the status of a sale, please call Will Ainger, managing editor, at (44-20) 7303-1735 or e-mail wainger@euromoneyplc.com .