Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Deere ^ Co. to Sell Wind Unit to Exelon for $900 Million (DE; EXC)

DE is up 1.05% at $63.64, EXC's down a dime.
Exelon has the largest nuclear generating capacity in the country and had been expected to be a big winner under a cap-and-trade regime.
From BloggingStocks:
Early Tuesday morning, tractor titan Deere & Co. (DE) announced that it will sell its wind energy business to a subsidiary of Exelon (EXC). The sale of John Deere Renewables will net the firm $900 million and will allow DE to turn its focus back to producing farm equipment.

Back in February, the company was looking at different options for its Renewables arm. DE will lose a bit of money in the exchange, as it invested roughly $1 billion in wind energy products during the past five years.
Through the purchase, EXC is receiving 36 completed projects in eight different states. These projects have an operational capacity of 735 megawatts.

DE stated that it would record a $25 million post-tax charge in the fourth quarter, but the sale was not taken into account in the company's fourth-quarter earnings estimate....MORE

From MarketWatch:
Exelon Corp. makes big wind energy purchase
Exelon Corp. on Tuesday said it would push further into the wind energy business in a $900 million deal with Deere & Co., as the operator of the largest fleet of nuclear plants in the U.S. looks to boost its emission-free generation business.
Exelon (EXC 40.50, -0.02, -0.06%) said it will buy John Deere Renewables from Deere & Co (DE 63.75, +0.77, +1.22%) , owner of 735 megawatts of wind energy projects now operating in eight U.S. states - enough to power up to 220,000 households.

Chicago-based Exelon also gets rights to pursue 1,468 megawatts of new wind projects in development, including 230 megawatts in advanced stages of launching.

Before this acquisition, Exelon was already the largest wholesale marketer of wind energy east of the Mississippi, with 352 megawatts of wind power capacity from five wind projects in Illinois, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Exelon Power also owns and operates a 10-megawatt solar plant in Chicago, which the company bills as the largest urban solar plant in the U.S....MORE