Minnesota environmental and clean energy groups are divided over the proposed buyout of the state’s second-largest utility by a group of investors led by private equity giant BlackRock.
At issue is the proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Duluth, Minnesota-based Allete, the owner of Minnesota Power, by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners, owned by BlackRock. Utility regulators will have to approve the deal.
The deal is just one example of the growing interest of private investment firms in the electric power industry as utilities are poised for an unprecedented surge of capital spending on new power generation.
The Allete buyout was proposed a year ago and has all of the necessary regulatory approvals except the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Last month, Administrative Law Judge Megan J. McKenzie recommended that the PUC reject the deal on grounds that the parties hadn’t shown the acquisition was in the public interest.
