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Another Energy counter
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March 3, 1998: 6:58 a.m. ET
In skirmish for Energy Group, Texas Utilities shoots back with $7.2B offer
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Less than 12 hours after PacifiCorp offered to pay about $6.7 billion for Energy Group Plc, Britain's largest utility, rival bidder Texas Utilities shot back Tuesday with a rapid fire counter-offer of roughly $7.2 billion.
Texas agreed to pony up 840 pence, or $13.90, per share for Energy Group, effectively topping PacifiCorp's Monday afternoon bid of 820 pence, or nearly $13.60 a share.
The escalating bidding war comes at a time when American electric-utility companies are vying to buy up British utilities, which the United Kingdom privatized in 1990. Energy Group is a leviathan with $14 billion in assets and more than $7 billion in annual revenue.
The current bidding war dates to last summer, when Portland-based PacifiCorp offered $5.8 billion for Energy Group. Early last month, it upped the offer, tacking on a 10 percent premium that valued the new deal at $6.6 billion.
As negotiations continued to see-saw, Texas Utilities stepped back into the fray early, Monday, agreeing to buy Energy Group for more than 810 pence, or $13.37 a share, for $6.8 billion. That prompted PacifiCorp's lightning quick retort yesterday afternoon.
A Texas Utility deal would face scrutiny by British regulators. PacifiCorp already received clearance.
Some analysts have predicted the bidding would have to go as high as 850 pence, or $14.05, a share in order for any party to clinch a deal.
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