Acquire the Customers, Not the Integration Problems

By Les Duncan, VP and CIO (retired), Atmos Energy Corporation, February, 14, 2007 - One hundred years ago, Atmos Energy started business as a very small natural gas company serving about 4,500 customers in Amarillo, Texas. Today, our Dallas-based enterprise is America’s largest natural gas only distributor. We serve 3.2 million utility customers in 1,500 communities, with regulated operations in 12 states and non-regulated operations in 18 states. The transformation was achieved primarily through ambitious and successful acquisitions. more...
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Management In Real Life: Merging Cultures

By Kevin Herring, President, Ascent Management Consulting, January, 04, 2007 - The ocotillo bush thrives in the dry deserts of the southwest. Most of the year, its upward reaching branches are bare revealing only intimidating thorns that extend up and down the plant. It’s the time of year when visitors from all over arrive to enjoy the beautiful weather. Just when this utopia begins to feel like it will endure the entire year, the leaves of the ocotillo begin to appear signaling a stark change from the pleasant days and gentle desert nights to a return to summer’s unrelenting heat. Unlike the signs provided by the ocotillo, however, the employees of a southwest company had little warning of the trauma that lie ahead as an acquisition target. more...
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Data Fusion for Timely ROI Given a Mixed Inventory of Operations Oriented Applications

By Emerson Hiller, Director of Business Development, Gatekeeper Systems, August, 18, 2005 - Mergers and acquisitions are commonplace in the utility industry today. The trend has fluctuated in intensity in the past decades and has been driven by diverse economic considerations including recently, the deregulatory movement. more...
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Shopping the spring asset sales

By Jennifer Zajac, Senior Editor, SNL Financial, May, 04, 2005 - Not too many people sound like they're fired up about the utilities on the sales block. more...
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Pace of Asset Sales Likely to Continue
Mergers amongst utilities expected to pick up in '06

By Jennifer Zajac, Senior Editor, SNL Financial, January, 06, 2005 - A funny thing happened to utilities on the way to the auction block: coal and natural gas prices soared, enabling many distressed companies - particularly ones with coal-fired merchant generation fleets - to boost their cash flow profiles enough so that they didn't have to resort to selling themselves or their assets at fire sale prices. more...
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Truly (and Succinctly) Setting the Record Straight on Cooperative Acquisitions

By Kevin Williams, Attorney at Law, , April, 02, 2004 - In their article "Setting the Record Straight on Cooperative Acquisitions," Messrs. Stone and Smith accused me of a variety of failings, most especially "superficial[ity]." I find this allegation to be oddly pleasing, as I am usually criticized for the reverse! more...
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The Coop Knee-Jerk

By Kevin Williams, Attorney at Law, , March, 15, 2004 - An investment banker, having toyed with cooperative acquisitions for a number of years and recognizing the benefits that will accrue to all parties involved, recently called me, dumbfounded that acquisition offers were not welcomed by coop Board Directors. I shared with him my theory (and that’s all it is -- a theory) about Board Directors' knee-jerk rejection of acquisition offers, prefaced by an abbreviated history lesson. more...
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Mythical Coop Creatures: Buffy-the-IOU-Slayer and Mr. Smith

By Kevin Williams, Attorney at Law, , March, 01, 2004 - After "coming out of the closet" regarding my electric cooperative acquisitions advisory practice, I have diligently worked to dispell a variety of misconceptions. One such misconception was neatly summarized by an industry analyst who recently gave me a great quote: "It seems that whenever an acquisition offer is made, 'Buffy-the-IOU-Slayer' appears." Indeed, a lot of folks have the general impression that cooperatives handily defeat acquisition offers. That simply is not the case. However, most offers are not successful. A distinction without a difference? Hardly. more...
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Setting the Record Straight on Cooperative Acquisitions

By Howard Stone, Managing Director, Capital Management Associates, Inc., February, 05, 2004 - In a series of articles, appearing in EnergyPulse over the past four months, Mr. Kevin Williams has repeatedly touted his unique expertise in the context of promoting benefits cooperative acquisitions and a successful acquisition strategy. Most recently on December 16, 2003, Mr. Williams observes that the proposed repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act ("PUCHA") as provided for in the pending Energy Policy Act of 2003, while in the short-run may "insulate" cooperative acquisitions in the short-run, in the long-run will increase the potential for such acquisitions. more...
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Coop Acquisitions and PUHCA Repeal (Hie To, or Hide From?)

By Kevin Williams, Attorney at Law, , December, 16, 2003 - A perennial “hot topic” in the electric utility business seems to be repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (which may, with the impending passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2003, finally come to fruition). Many experts have weighed in on one side or the other, and I do not feel that I can add to that debate. more...
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