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Sole underwriter Royal Bank of Scotland is looking for up to eight banks to participate in a GBP257 million ($365 million) non-recourse construction loan it is arranging for Conoco Global Power (CGP), but market watchers say the firm will have its work cut out fully syndicating the loan given the risks inherent in the deal.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein will close $340 million in non-recourse financing within the next few weeks for the construction of Araucaria, a 469 MW gas-fired power project in Brazil's Parana state that El Paso is developing. PFR was unable to ascertain the structure or pricing of the loan or syndication details before press time. Calls to El Paso and Dresdner were not returned.

Bonds Date Maturity Issuer Amount Price Type of Security Coupon (%) Moody's S&P Book Managers(s) 02/21/02 02/22/04 EDEGEL SAA(Generandes) 8.3 100 Bonds 6 - - Citibank 02/22/02 11/01/11 InvestCo 99.5 Market Debentures 12.8 Aaa - Unibanco 02/22/02 02/27/07 Potomac Capital Investment 34.3 100 Mdm Trm Bk Nts 7.62 A3 BBB+ Merrill 02/22/02 02/27/12 Washington Gas and Electric 25 100 MTNs 6 NR NR Merrill 02/25/02 03/01/32 UtiliCorp 250 100 Senior Notes 7.875 Baa3 BBB Morgan Stanley 02/26/02 - Ameren 300 25 Adj Cvt Eq Uts - na A Goldman 02/26/02 03/01/12 Arizona Public Service 375 99.298 Notes 6.5 Baa1 BBB SSB/BofA M&A Date Announced Date Effective Target Name Target Country Acquiror Acquiror Country Value ($mil) 02/21/02 02/21/02 Nowra Gas Australia ACTEW Australia - 02/22/02 - Chapais Energie Societe Canada Clean Power Income Fund Canada - 02/22/02 02/22/02 Hafslund Norway Sydkraft Sweden - 02/26/02 - Enserco Energy Service Canada Nabors Industries U.S. 297.216 02/26/02 - Giants Reef Mining Treatment Australia Troy Resources NL Australia .385 02/26/02 - Mirant State Line Ventures U.S. Dominion Resources U.S. 182 02/26/02 02/26/02 Samaraenergo Russian Fed Siberian Aluminum Russian Fed - Source: Thomson Financial Securities Data Company. For more information, call Rich Peterson at (973) 645-9701.

Ameren last week completed the sale of $500 million of equity and convertible securities and will use the proceeds to pay down debt and reduce gearing. The St. Louis-based energy outfit raised $200 million through the sale of five million common shares and $300 million through the sale of 12 million $25 seven-year convertible equity-linked securities.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Cogentrix Energy, a privately-held independent power producer, has received three or four bids from potential merger partners and shortlisted one of them this past month for exclusive negotiations. A New York banker familiar with the matter says the bidder was successful because it expressed interest in purchasing the whole company, whereas others were only looking to buy parts of Cogentrix. The banker explains that the price of the winning bid, however, was lower than had been hoped for and may not, therefore, lead to a sale. Jef Freeman, a spokesman at Cogentrix, declined to comment and bankers at Goldman Sachs, which was hired late last year to find a suitor (PFR, 1/6), could not immediately be reached for comment.

Austin Energy, the municipal utility owned by the Lone Star state capital, is looking to use the $81.1 million it plans to raise in revenue bonds to refund $78 million of outstanding bonds issued on a combined basis for the City's utilities. Elaine Kuhlman, senior v.p. finance and corporate services, says the process of splitting out power funding from water and wastewater, began in June 2000 with a water issue. The rationale behind the move is that it allows the entities to be rated separately. The move also gave the utility the opportunity to draft less restrictive covenant provisions than those under the combined utilities agreement, she adds.

Dominion will look to tap the capital markets to fund its $182 million acquisition of generation assets from Mirant. Joe O'Hare, senior investor relations analyst at Dominion in Richmond, Va., says no funding plans have been finalized, but adds the company will look ultimately for longer term financing. O'Hare notes funding may get rolled in to other capital market activity planned for this year rather than on a standalone basis.

KBC Bank has been putting out calls testing interest in its planned re-launch of the $300 million non-recourse loan funding a 725 MW plant in Perryville, La. The fully underwritten deal, which stalled in syndication last summer (PFR, 8/20), will resurface with additional equity, a reduced tenor, a faster amortization rate and higher returns, according to one banker close to the deal. He referred further questions to Eric McCartney, head of project finance for the Americas at KBC, who did not return calls. The deal is expected to resurface next month (PFR, 1/21).

New York City utility Consolidated Edison will likely tap the equity capital markets late this year or early in 2003 to fund up to $500 million in infrastructure spending and $400 million in disaster recovery spending stemming from the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks, according to utility analysts.

Inspired by the rise, fall and redemption narrative arc of VH1's Behind the Music, San Francisco illustrator Don Asmussen has written and directed a spoof animated version of the show called Enron: Facing the Music. "It was like a huge rock story that went wrong," he says.