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The GBP37.3 million ($57 million) price tag of Centrica's latest power plant acquisition in the U.K. highlights the rapidly deteriorating value of generation assets in the U.K., say market watchers. They add the news will be a body blow to the raft of companies that are presently trying to offload power stations in the U.K. and should prompt them to re-evaluate sharply downwards their expectations for sale proceeds. "This is the cheapest value I can ever remember for a modern gas-fired plant... It might be hard for other sellers to swallow such a hit," notes one London utility banker.

Credit Suisse First Boston's distressed asset trading desk late last month snapped up a chunk of the non-recourse debt tied to Enron's 1,700 MW Teesside power plant, say project financiers in London. One banker says the seller was Sanwa Bank, which began winding down its London-based power project loan group this spring, but bankers are unsure if CSFB was taking a proprietary position or buying on behalf of a client. Financiers were also unsure of the exact size of the trade. The debt was trading at 55% of face value when the trade was executed, notes one City loan trader. Mark Hoffman, a distressed loan trader at CSFB, declined to comment.

Deutsche Bank has hired Bruno Valecon, an energy marketer at Société Générale in Paris, as a gas, oil and power marketer in London.

Entergy Wholesale Operations, the unregulated power generation arm of Entergy, is considering divesting its Damhead Creek power plant in the U.K., less than a year after taking the 800 MW combined-cycle gas-turbine facility off the chopping block. The plant is located in Kent, southern England. Calls to Geoff Roberts, ceo of Entergy Wholesale Operations in Houston, and Gareth Brett, senior managing director for Europe, were not returned.

Estonia's state-owned electric utility Eesti Energia is considering issuing a fixed-rate bond this month, according to Sandor Liive, cfo in Tallinn. The utility, which received its inaugural credit rating on Tuesday--A minus from Standard & Poor's--is considering issuing the bond to hedge against higher interest rate payments on a floating-rate loan it arranged recently. Liive indicated that the second week of July is a possible issue date, declining all further comment on this point.

Polish power grid operator Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) is looking to raise some $1.5 billion in the international bond markets through the securitization of a new tax that will be tagged on to the bottom of consumers' electricity bills, say London bankers pitching for the deal. They add a decision on which banks are shortlisted for the lucrative advisory and underwriting mandate will be made at the end of this month. Regina Wegnerowska, a spokeswoman in Warsaw, referred questions to officials in PSE's Treasury department, who did not return calls.

InterGen has selected Citibank to advise on the arrangement and syndication of a $510-$512 million non-recourse loan, which will be used to finance the construction of an approximately $700 million, 945 MW natural gas-fired power plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, says a project financier at InterGen in Burlington, Mass.

Charles Barnett, an equity research analyst covering Latin American utilities at Lehman Brothers, was laid off last month, say other analysts. They add Barnett, who worked out of the New York office, has yet to find a new position or been replaced at the Wall St. firm.

E.on is on track to announce a tie-up in the U.S. Midwest shortly, having completed its $8.1 billion acquisition of Powergen and its stateside subsidiary Louisville Gas & Electric last Monday, says a New York official who has held talks with the company's top brass. He adds the German energy giant continues to hold merger talks with Ohio energy concerns Cinergy and DPL and is considering either snapping up both utilities in one fell swoop or acquiring either company. E.on originally approached both companies this spring (PFR, 4/29).

Deutsche Bank has laid off Darrell Ho, and Jeff Stewart, New York power project financiers focusing on Latin America and the U.S., respectively, and also handed pink slips to three other financiers in its 19-strong energy project finance group for the Americas, say bankers close to the matter.PFR could not ascertain the names of the other financiers by press time. The bank also released Paul Naumann, a one-time head of the Big Apple power project finance team, who flipped to a corporate finance slot at the tail end of last year (PFR, 2/4)