Posts Tagged ‘Emera’

Emera Increases Investment in Light and Power Holdings to 79.74 Per Cent

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Jan. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Emera Inc. (”Emera” – Toronto Stock Exchange listing “EMA”) wishes to advise all shareholders of Light & Power Holdings Ltd. (”Light & Power Holdings” – Barbados Stock Exchange listing: “LPH”) that the offer to purchase all issued and outstanding common shares in Light & Power Holdings at a cash price per share of BB$25.70 (twenty five Barbados dollars and seventy Barbados cents) closed as of 5 pm on January 24, 2011.

 7,129,269 shares of LPH were deposited in response to the offer and Emera announced today that it will purchase all deposited shares. If the tender and acceptance of all shares is confirmed by the Barbados Stock Exchange as valid, this will increase Emera’s ownership in LPH to 79.74 per cent.

 This 41.43 per cent additional investment will make Emera the majority shareholder in LPH. The remaining shares of LPH are primarily held by 1,700 Barbadian shareholder accounts, including the National Insurance Board of Barbados.

 Payments for deposited shares will be made to shareholders by January 31, 2011. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter.

 Light & Power Holdings is the parent company of The Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (”BLPC”). BLPC is the sole electric utility operator on the island of Barbados, serving 120,000 customers. BLPC has three power generation stations consisting of 239 MW of installed capacity.

 Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information:

 This release contains forward-looking information and should not be read as a guarantee of future events, performance or results, and will not necessarily be an accurate indication of whether, or the times at which, such events, performance or results will be achieved. Emera disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws.

 About Emera

 (EMA and EMA.PR.A – TSX) is an energy and services company with $5.8 billion Canadian dollars in assets. Electricity is Emera’s core business. Approximately 94% of Emera’s revenues are earned by Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI), Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE) and the Brunswick Pipeline. NSPI and BHE are wholly-owned regulated electric utilities which together serve 603,000 customers. The Brunswick Pipeline is a 145 km gas pipeline in New Brunswick. Emera also owns Maine and Maritimes Corporation, the parent company of Maine Public Service Company, a regulated electric utility serving approximately 36,000 electricity customers in Northern Maine, and MAM Services Group. In the Caribbean, Emera owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the island of St. Lucia; 80.4% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the island of Grand Bahama; and 38% of Light & Power Holdings which serves 120,000 customers on the island of Barbados through its regulated electric utility The Barbados Light and Power Company. As well, Emera owns 8.2% of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. and 50% of Calpeco which serves 47,000 customers in California. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera owns Bayside Power, a 260 MW gas-fired power plant in Saint John, New Brunswick; Emera Energy Services, a physical natural gas and power marketing and asset management business; a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; and an 8.2% interest in Open Hydro. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com .

 (EMA.)

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Nancy Tower, FCA, named new Executive Vice President Business Development

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Jan. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — (EMA-TSX): Chris Huskilson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Emera Inc., announced that effective May 1, 2011, Nancy Tower, presently the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Emera and Nova Scotia Power Inc., will assume the role of Executive Vice President, Business Development for Emera Inc. In addition to overall responsibility for business development, Ms. Tower will also oversee the Emera partnership with Nalcor Energy including the execution of the Lower Churchill Project as the CEO, Emera Newfoundland and Labrador.

 Ms. Tower, a Fellow Chartered Accountant, joined Nova Scotia Power in 1997 and has held senior positions in the company in Corporate Finance and Operations, including Controller and Vice President of Customer Operations. Ms. Tower serves on the Boards of a number of Emera investments including Bangor Hydro Electric Company, ICD Utilities, Brunswick Pipeline and Atlantic Hydrogen. Prior to joining Emera, Ms. Tower worked with Grant Thornton, A.I. Tower and Ernst and Young.

 Ms. Tower is a leader in our community, currently serving on the Board of Directors of Nova Scotia Business Inc., as well as, the Advisory Council of the Dalhousie University Corporate Residency MBA Program.  She is a past member of the Board of Trustees of the QEII Foundation, and the Board of Directors of CAA Atlantic.  She is the former Chair of the Nova Scotia Institute of Chartered Accountants and a graduate of Dalhousie University.

 Emera will begin an immediate search for a new CFO.

 Chris Huskilson also announces that effective immediately, Rick Janega, currently the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Nova Scotia Power will assume the role of President, Emera Newfoundland and Labrador, reporting to Ms. Tower.

 Since joining the company in 1989, Mr. Janega has held increasingly senior positions at Nova Scotia Power including VP Operations, General Manager Power Production, Director of Plant Operations and Senior Manager of both Trenton and Point Tupper generating stations.  Mr. Janega was also Director of Business Development for generation projects at Emera Inc.

 A graduate of St. Francis Xavier University and the Technical University of Nova Scotia (Dalhousie University) Mr. Janega is a member of the Board of Directors for Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) an alumnus of the Governor General’s Leadership Conference and sits on the Board of Directors for Leave Out Violence.

 About Emera

 (EMA and EMA.PR.A – TSX) is an energy and services company with $5.8 billion Canadian dollars in assets. Electricity is Emera’s core business. Approximately 94% of Emera’s revenues are earned by Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI), Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE) and the Brunswick Pipeline. NSPI and BHE are wholly-owned regulated electric utilities which together serve 603,000 customers. The Brunswick Pipeline is a 145 km gas pipeline in New Brunswick. Emera also owns Maine and Maritimes Corporation, the parent company of Maine Public Service Company, a regulated electric utility serving approximately 36,000 electricity customers in Northern Maine, and MAM Services Group. In the Caribbean, Emera owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the island of St. Lucia; 80.4% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the island of Grand Bahama; and 38% of Light & Power Holdings which serves 120,000 customers on the island of Barbados through its regulated electric utility The Barbados Light and Power Company. As well, Emera owns 8.2% of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. and 50% of Calpeco which serves 47,000 customers in California. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera owns Bayside Power, a 260 MW gas-fired power plant in Saint John, New Brunswick; Emera Energy Services, a physical natural gas and power marketing and asset management business; a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; and an 8.2% interest in Open Hydro. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.

 (EMA.)

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Emera to Acquire a 38% Interest in Light & Power Holdings Ltd.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 3 /PRNewswire/ – Today, Emera (TSX: EMA) announced that it will acquire a 38% interest in Light & Power Holdings Ltd. (Barbados Stock Exchange: “LPH”) from Leucadia National Corporation (”Leucadia”). Under the terms of the agreement with Leucadia, Emera will acquire the interest from Leucadia for US $85million.

 LPH is the parent company of The Barbados Light & Power Company Limited. (BLPC) BLPC is the sole utility operator on the island of Barbados, serving 120,000 customers. BLPC has three power generation stations consisting of 239 MW of installed capacity. There is a regulatory regime on the island that allows a full fuel pass through mechanism.     

 ”This acquisition is an exciting next step in our Caribbean growth strategy as we begin to build scale in the region,” said Chris Huskilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Emera Inc. “BLPC is consistently ranked as one of the top-performing electric utilities in the Caribbean for efficiency, performance, and rate structure.”

 The Board of LPH has said that “they welcome the investment of Emera” and that “the combined knowledge and experience of Emera and LPH in the electric utility business will maintain and enhance the technical strength and future prospects of BLPC for the continued benefit of electricity customers in Barbados”.

This 38% investment will make Emera the largest single shareholder of LPH. Approximately 62% of LPH is locally held by 2,700 Barbadian shareholders, including the National Insurance Board of Barbados, which owns 23%.

LPH is Emera’s third investment in the Caribbean. This follows a 19% investment in St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (Lucelec), a vertically-integrated monopoly utility on the island of St. Lucia, and a 25% indirect interest in Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC), a vertically-integrated electric utility on the Grand Bahama Island in The Bahamas.

 The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter and is not subject to regulatory approval. This transaction will be financed with existing credit facilities and is expected to be immediately accretive.

Barbados is the most eastern island in the Caribbean, with a population of approximately 285,000. The government is a parliamentary democracy and the legal system is based on English common law. Canada enjoys a strong working relationship with Barbados, and Canadian companies make up approximately 75% of the international financial community on the island. Barbados enjoys one of the highest per capita incomes in the region, and tourism is the main economic activity.

 Forward Looking Information

This news release contains forward looking information. Actual future results may differ materially. Additional financial and operational information is filed electronically with various securities commissions in Canada through the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR).

 About Emera

Emera Inc. (TSX: EMA) is an energy and services company with $5.3 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera’s core business. Approximately 94% of Emera’s revenues are earned by Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI), Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE) and the Brunswick Pipeline. NSPI and BHE are wholly-owned regulated electric utilities which together serve 603,000 customers. The Brunswick Pipeline is a 145 km gas pipeline in New Brunswick. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and 25% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the Caribbean island of Grand Bahama in The Bahamas. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera owns Bayside Power, a 260 MW gas-fired power plant in Saint John, New Brunswick; Emera Energy Services, a physical natural gas and power marketing and asset management business; a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; and an 8.2% interest in Open Hydro. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.

 For further information: Emera Investor Contacts: Jennifer Nicholson, CA, Senior Director, Stakeholder Relations, (902) 428-6347; Jill MacDonald, CA, Manager, Investor Relations, (902) 428-6486; Emera Media Contact: Sasha Irving, Director, Corporate Communications, (902) 428-6685; Media Contact Light and Power Holdings Ltd., Peter Williams, Director, (246) 430-4200

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