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Arlington, Va.-based AES has selected Morgan Stanley to advise on the sale of its Latin American assets, which account for approximately 39% of the international power producers' revenues, says a banker familiar with the matter. At the end of February, AES announced a restructuring plan that included divesting between $1-1.5 billion of underperforming assets in both Latin America and the U.S. It is looking to sell generation capacity to shore up its balance sheet and improve its credit ratings in the wake of the Enron meltdown, which has caused an abrupt downturn in the energy sector.

CMS Energy has signed a deal to sell the bulk of its Latin American electricity assets and expects closure to occur within two weeks, according to an official familiar with the divestiture process. Kelly Farr, a spokesman at Dearborn, Mich.-based CMS, declined to comment on the matter.

Mexico's Comision Federal De Electricidad plans to put 13 independent power projects (IPPs) out for tender this year, the most ambitious roll-out to date of the country's generation privatization program. Eugenio Laris Alanis, director for new projects at the CFE, says the aim is to auction some $3.5 billion of greenfield projects, representing 5.5 GW of combined capacity, by year-end.

CMS Energy is looking to acquire some small U.S. gas pipeline assets as part of its strategy to grow the company through targeted acquisitions with capital from its divestiture program. This is aimed at redistributing more resources to its core business areas, says Alan Wright, executive v.p. and cfo.

Repower, a German wind turbine manufacturer and wind farm developer, last week became the first European power technology or renewable energy concern to make an initial public offering since Nordex, another wind turbine company, floated last summer. Despite strong demand for the issue--the EUR82 million common stock offering was some three times oversubscribed--Glen Liddy, a power technology analyst at lead underwriter Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, warns investors not to expect a flurry of similar deals.

Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, BNP Paribas, HSBC and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi will close financing this week on a roughly $350 million non-recourse loan funding the expansion of a power and water desalination plant in Bahrain. A banker involved in the transaction says the deal is being underwritten on a club basis and that the quartet will not syndicate the transaction after closure. He declined comment on the tenor or pricing of the facility.

Oil and gas giant BP is in the process of ramping up its power trading operations and last month hired Enron veteran Amir Ghodsian to trade the U.K. electricity market out of London.

Union Fenosa has retained Citibank to arrange non-recourse project financing for the construction of a $200 million 300 MW gas-fired plant in Sonora, Mexico, dubbed Naco Nogales, according to a New York project financier familiar with the matter. He adds the Spanish utility and Citi still have to hammer out details of the loan.

Alan Wright, executive v.p. and cfo of CMS Energy, told conference delegates he doubts the Dearborn, Mich., energy concern will be able to sell any of its Argentine assets in the near-term given the country's recent devaluation. CMS hopes to complete the sale of its Latin American portfolio by the third or fourth quarter, said Wright, quashing earlier hopes of a quick exit (PFR, 3/4).

Merrillville, Ind.-base NiSource has wrapped its $500 million 364-day revolver with all nine banks invited into the deal signing tickets, along with lead Barclays Capital. The deal refinances a $1.25 billion facility, a downsizing reflecting lower funding needs (PFR, 3/10).