Atlantic Power (AT) says it has a "corporate strategy ... to increase the value of the Company through accretive acquisitions in North American markets while generating stable, contracted cash flows from its existing assets." But, on Thursday, the electric utility found a new, completely opposite way to raise cash -- making a one-time divestiture of assets.
This morning, Atlantic announced the planned sale of three Florida power projects, Auburndale Power Partners Limited, Lake Cogen, and Pasco Cogen, to Quantum Utility Generation, LLC, for a total purchase price of $136 million. Assuming the sale goes through, Atlantic expects to net $111 million cash from the sale after repaying some project-level debt, and settling some swaps.
Atlantic said in a statement that it will use some of these proceeds to "fully repay the Company's senior credit facility" -- but the company will still have close to $1.9 billion in other debt. The balance of the cash will go to "general corporate purposes." The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2013.
Atlantic shares are down 3.5% on the news, at $12.40.
