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41 Infrastructure 1 (2001-2002)

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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

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