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41 Infrastructure 1 (2001-2002)

handle is hein.journals/infrastr41 and id is 1 raw text is: AASC IO OF PULC UTLIY COM U A IO AN TRN PRTTO LA W infrast1- VOL. 41, NOS. 1-2 FALL 2001/WINTER 2002 More uncertainty for utility M&As By WilliamJ. Harmon n January of this year, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Colum- bia Circuit overturned the Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of the merger of American Electric Power (AEP) and Central and South West Corp. (CSW) under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA). National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn v. Securities and Fxchange Commission, No. 00-1371 (Jan. 18,2002). The court sent the case back to the SEC for further action to determine, based on the court's interpretation of the relevant sections of PUHCA, whether the merger is proper under the law. This unusual move by the court, following on the heels of the Enron collapse, confusion over the size and membership of regional transmission organizations and the possibility of new energy legislation, including a possible repeal of PUHCA, adds another layer of uncertainty for future utility fla-mon is of counsel aijones, Day; Reavis & Pogue in Chicago. Ills e-mai Is w/jha,-mon@jonesdaj coyn. M&A activity. Of immediate concern to AEP is the challenge to its merger and the possibility, which seems quite remote, that the end result could be a divesti- ture of some of its utility subsidiaries. AEP and the court decision AEP and CSW announced their plans to merge in December, 1997. After 2 1/2 years of regulatory pro- ceedings at the FERC and 11 state utility commissions, the deal was completed in June 2000 after the SEC gave the final needed approval. Anerican Elec. Pow'er Co. Inc., Holding Co. Act Rel. No. 35-27186 conthitied on page 2 I INSIDE