[ UtiliCorp plans Aquila IPO ]

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Dec 14, 2000 by Capital-Journal

- UtiliCorp plans Aquila IPO --- UtiliCorp United Inc. (NYSE: UCU) said Wednesday it plans an initial public offering of a portion of its wholly owned Aquila Energy Corp. subsidiary.

UtiliCorp, a Kansas City, Mo.-based utility, also plans to spin off to UtiliCorp stockholders the remaining shares of Aquila, a wholesale energy merchant, during 2001 in a tax-free distribution, a company statement said.

The spinoff is subject to a number of conditions, and almost all of the proceeds from the initial public offering are expected to be used by Aquila to repay amounts it owes to UtiliCorp, the company said.

Underwriting of the deal would be led by Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Additional underwriters would include Salomon Smith Barney, Chase H&Q and Credit Lyonnais Securities Inc.

- Shareholder sues Sprint --- A Sprint Corp. shareholder filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing top officials at the Westwood, Kan.-based telecommunications giant of using a failed merger with WorldCom Inc. to improperly obtain hundreds of millions in stock options ahead of schedule.

The Amalgamated Bank's Longview Collective Investment Fund, which holds more than 600,000 shares of Sprint stock, filed the lawsuit in Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court, accusing Sprint chief executive William Esrey and 20 other Sprint executives and directors of "breach of fiduciary duty, waste of corporate assets, unjust enrichment and fraud."

Robin Carlson, a Sprint spokeswoman, denied the allegations and said the law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, which represents Amalgamated, was "notorious for filing baseless suits."

--- From staff and wire reports