HELENA — A partial owner of Talen Energy Corp., the Pennsylvania company that is the operator and a co-owner of Montana’s Colstrip power plant, is seeking to buy the entire company in a $1.8 billion deal, company officials said Friday.
The planned acquisition by the investment firm Riverstone Holdings LLC will not mean any immediate changes for Colstrip, a 2,100-megawatt coal fired power plant that is co-owned by five companies besides Talen.
“The owners are the same owners, the operators are ourselves,” Martin said. “Our mission is the same, to operate these plants safely.”
Riverstone and its affiliates already own more than a third of Talen, which Martin said is valued at $5.2 billion and has 23 power generating facilities in eight states. Riverstone plans to buy Talen’s outstanding shares for $1.8 billion in cash, or $14 a share.
Colstrip’s future was already uncertain in a declining coal market and amid increasing regulations for coal-fired plants. The largest of Colstrip’s owners, Puget Sound Energy in Washington state, will be allowed to set aside money for the closure of Colstrip’s two oldest units under a law passed by that state’s legislature this year. No date has been set for the closure of those units.
In Oregon, Portland General Electric and PacificCorp. —two more Colstrip owners — helped write legislation to wean that state off coal-produced electricity by 2035.
Talen last month said it had given two-years’ notice to the other Colstrip owners that it plans to cease being the plant’s operator. Martin said Friday the acquisition will not change those plans.
Riverstone and Talen companies hope to win the approval of regulators and shareholders and close the deal by the end of the year. The agreement also includes a provision that gives Talen 40 days to seek an alternative deal to the Riverstone purchase.
Martin declined to comment on whether any such negotiations are underway.