Sithe Energies to Sell 49.9 Percent of North American Assets to PECO Energy

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Aug 18, 2000

Sithe Energies, Inc., with operations in Central New York, has entered into a definitive agreement with PECO Energy Company (NYSE: PE) under which PECO will acquire 49.9 percent of Sithe North America. Upon completion of the agreement, the remaining 50.1 percent of Sithe North America will be owned by Vivendi (33 percent), Marubeni Corp. (15 percent), and Sithe management (2 percent).

Under the terms of the agreement, PECO can purchase the remaining 50.1 percent of Sithe North America in two to five years.

William Kriegel will continue to serve as chairman and chief executive officer of Sithe, and the company will continue to have its headquarters in New York City. The transaction is conditioned upon the satisfaction of customary conditions and is expected to close by October 2000.

Kriegel founded Sithe more than 15 years ago.

Corbin McNeill, Jr., chairman, president and chief executive officer of PECO Energy, said the purchase was part of a new focus for the company. "Our generating focus has moved beyond. nuclear generating capability and unit-by-unit acquisitions. ... we will be acquiring an extensive electric and natural-gas trading presence in the New England and New York power pools, complementing our already strong Midwest and mid-Atlantic positions."

PECO Energy Company is an electric and gas utility with 6,500 employees serving 1.5 million electric costumers in the five-county Philadelphia region and more than 425,000 natural-gas customers.

Sithe Energies, Inc. was founded in 1984. Sithe North America owns and operates 27 power-generation facilities with approximately 3,800 megawatts of net generating capacity in North America and currently has under development 11 facilities with an estimated 2,500 megawatts of capacity. The company operates the 1,042-megawatt Independence Station in Scriba in Oswego County, and is in the process of building an additional facility, Heritage Station, also in Oswego County.