BTU Power agrees to buy PSEG stake in Meiya Power

Lawyers at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s offices in Hong Kong and New York recently advised BTU Power Company (BTU) on its agreement to acquire a 50 per cent equity interest in Meiya Power Company Limited (MPC) from PSEG Global of the United States. BTU will pay approximately US$220m for the shares. The sale is expected to close within sixty days and is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.

‘This is the second M&A power deal which we have done for BTU this year following their acquisition of PSEG Global’s share of Carthage Power Company in Tunisia,’ said Andrew Hart, the partner who headed the Freshfields team in Hong Kong. ‘We were delighted to work with their team again – this time in another part of the world.’

MPC develops, owns and operates electric power and steam generation facilities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), South Korea and Taiwan. MPC has an ownership interest in 14 projects in operation or construction – 12 in the PRC, one in South Korea and one in Taiwan. The projects collectively have a capacity of over 4,000 MW, with more than 3,400 in operation. MPC’s equity ownership in the projects is approximately 2,100 MW.

MPC is headquartered in Hong Kong, with subsidiary offices in Beijing, Lanzhou, Shanghai, Seoul and Taipei. Other shareholders in MPC include AIF Energy and Darby Asian Infrastructure Mezzanine Capital Fund.

BTU and its affiliates (collectively the BTU Group) acquire operating assets and develop projects in the mid- and downstream segments of the energy value chain. The BTU Group’s shareholders include leading institutional investors and commercial and investment banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The BTU Group operates out of offices in Burlington, Mass., USA and in Dubai, UAE.

PSEG Global owns and operates power plants in the United States and power plants and electric distribution companies internationally. It is a direct subsidiary of PSEG Energy Holdings LLC and an indirect subsidiary of PSEG (NYSE:PEG) a diversified energy company based in Newark, NJ. Website: www.pseg.com

The Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer team was led in Hong Kong by partner Andrew Hart, supported by Niccola Russo, James Dunlap, Susan Finder, Zhou Lin, Alice Cheng, Miranda Poon and Liu Jing and in New York by partner Charles Robinson, supported by Don Stokes.

Vinson & Elkins were counsel to PSEG and Norton Rose were counsel to AIF Energy.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance were financial advisers to BTU on the transaction, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Arctas Capital Group advised PSEG Global.