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Auch diese Woche zeigten sich die Energiepreise übers Wochenende robust, was zumindest in den letzten Wochen als gutes Zeichen zu werten war. In der COB-Region hält sich der Preis z.Z. im Bereich von 50 Dollar je MWh. Allerdings muss berücksichtigt werden, dass auch die Preise fürs Erdgas merklich angezogen sind, so dass sich die Spark Spreads quasi nicht verbessert haben.
Dieser Effekt dürfte CPN aber merklich weniger schaden als den Konkurrenten, da die noch jungen Werke von CPN Effizienter arbeiten.

Hier hab ich noch einen nicht ganz uninteressanten Bericht gefunden:


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European Utilities Eye U.S. Market as Domestic Options Dwindle
By Katherine Snyder


Frankfurt, March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Europe`s biggest utilities, after spending more than $100 billion on acquisitions in Europe in the past three years, may set their sights on the U.S. as the number of targets at home dwindles, bankers said.

RWE AG of Germany last week agreed to pay $7.4 billion for Innogy Holdings Plc, the 20th announced purchase of a European utility company in the past 12 months. With fewer options in Europe three years after the energy industry started opening to competition, companies are starting to look overseas.

European utilities including E.ON AG and RWE of Germany, Suez SA of France and Enel SpA of Italy may accumulate about $150 billion to spend in the next five years as they sell assets including chemicals and telecommunications units. In the U.S., valuations of power producers have more than halved following the failure of Enron Corp. in the biggest-ever U.S. bankruptcy.

``There is a capital surplus in the European utilities sector and a capital deficit in the U.S. market,`` said Michael Bonte- Friedheim, a senior utilities banker at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who advised a group led by Fiat SpA and Electricite de France on the $3.3 billion acquisition of Enel SpA`s Eurogen generation unit this month.

The U.S. power market, home to about 3,000 electric utilities, is almost twice the size of the European market, with 679 gigawatts of electricity. It`s also ripe for consolidation. Since 1995, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved just 50 mergers between investor-owned utilities.

Midwest Targets

European utilities have spent about $25 billion on U.S. power companies in the past four years, led by ScottishPower Plc`s $10.7 billion acquisition of Pacificorp in 1999.

E.ON Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Hartmann said last week he plans to makes two acquisitions in the U.S. Midwest after Germany`s biggest utility secures clearance for the $14 billion purchase of Powergen Plc, the U.K.`s No. 3 power generator.

Purchasing Powergen will give E.ON control of LG&E Corp., Kentucky`s utility. Potential targets in the surrounding Midwest include Cinergy Corp., owner of Cincinnati`s electric utility; CMS Energy Corp.; DPL Inc., the owner of Ohio utility Dayton Power & Light; and Allegheny Energy Inc., which owns utilities in five U.S. states.

With assets spread between Texas and the Midwest, American Electric Power Co., the biggest U.S. power generator, is also a possible candidate for E.ON, analysts have said. AEP, which also owns assets in Europe, is based in Columbus, Ohio.

`Greatly Increased Risk`

``The U.S. fundamentally remains very attractive for many European players,`` said Franz Etz, an investment banker at Merrill Lynch & Co. who advised RWE on its purchases of Innogy, American Water Works Co. and Thames Water of the U.K.

European utilities including RWE and Suez face obstacles. With about one third of their revenue coming from water, both companies are prevented by the U.S. Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 from buying in the regulated power market.

That leaves them only acquisition opportunities in the merchant generation market, and ``with the collapse of Enron, the independent power producer sector has been hit quite badly in terms of risk perception,`` says Merrill`s Etz.

Prices for independent power producers have plunged since Enron collapsed. Mirant Corp. and Calpine Corp., two of the biggest U.S. independent power companies, have a combined market value of less than $10 billion from about $33 billion at the start of 2001.

Getting Cheaper

``Value is emerging in a battered U.S. utilities sector to the point where well-funded European and international companies can afford to be more ambitious,`` said Rob Gray, global head of utilities investment banking at Deutsche Bank AG, who advised Innogy with Credit Suisse First Boston on its sale to RWE.

Mirant trades at 6.8 times forecast earnings, down from 12.1 times in October. Calpine trades at 5.7 times profit after a ratio of 11 three months ago, according to Bloomberg data. That compares with 17.5 times at Spain`s Union Fenosa SA and 13 times for Iberdrola SA, utilities considered targets in Europe.

Falling valuations may persuade Suez, the world`s No. 2 water company, to expand its electricity business in the U.S. The company`s Tractebel SA energy unit two years ago bought Trigen Energy Corp., a New York-based generator, for $137.9 million and Cabot LNG, a liquefied natural-gas business, for $680 million.

``We are looking at the possibility of buying very good assets at very interesting prices,`` said Suez Chief Executive Gerard Mestrallet earlier this month.

U.K. power companies, the first to enter the U.S. market, may also keep buying. National Grid Group Plc, owner of the power- transmission network in England and Wales, may add to its U.S. holdings. The company paid $8.36 billion for Niagara Mohawk Holdings Inc. and $3.2 billion for New England Electric System.

`Heightened Interest`

ScottishPower may also try and build on its purchase of Pacificorp once it has met profit goals at the Oregon-based utility. Glasgow, Scotland-based ScottishPower`s strategy ``could involve further acquisitions in the U.S.,`` Chief Executive Ian Russell said last year.

``We`re seeing a heightened interest by a large number of European utilities in opportunities the U.S. market provides,`` said Morgan Stanley`s Bonte-Friedheim.

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Ich gehe mal davon aus, dass unter diesen Umständen die CPN-Aktie den Markt in dieser Woche schlagen kann. Nach dem ich nach einer Tal-und-Berg-Fahrt der letzten Wochen nun endlich wieder im plus bin (dank Nachkäufen zu tieferen Kursen), denke ich über einen Teilverkauf nach, da die Depotpostion überdurchnschnittlich hoch geworden ist. Zunächst bleibe ich aber noch dabei....
 
aus der Diskussion: Calpine
Autor (Datum des Eintrages): Ant@res  (25.03.02 13:55:46)
Beitrag: 98 von 251 (ID:5865136)
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