For companies, getting big is fun. Getting smaller, though, is usually a painful exercise. Credit, then, Calpine (NYSE:CPN) management for its apparent commitment to a program of selling noncore assets to shore up the balance sheet and prevent the company from getting much smaller in a bankruptcy proceeding.
On Tuesday, Calpine announced that it was in exclusive negotiations for the sale of four additional power generating facilities. Should the deals proceed as expected, Calpine should see about $357 million in proceeds.
Calpine is negotiating the sale of Ontelaunee Energy Center (584 megawatts, $231 million), Grays Ferry (175 MW, $37 million), and Philadelphia Water Works (23 MW, $7 million) to Tenaska Power Fund LP. The fourth plant, Morris Power Plant (156 MW, $82 million), would be sold to Diamond Generating Corp.
Assuming these deals go through, Calpine will have sold half of the eight plants that it said it intended to sell. If the company moves ahead with plans to shutter plants with negative cash flow and sell nonstrategic natural gas assets, I'd say it's certainly committed to the right track.
What's more, today's pricing of a $155 million offering of redeemable preferred stock (at the London interbank offered rate plus 9%) and $100 million in debt (at LIBOR plus 3%) should help keep the wolves (and bears) from the front door a little longer.
Calpine is far from in the clear, but it's certainly better off than it was six months ago. With buying interest picking up in the energy sector, Calpine is getting some good prices for its assets and generating the liquidity it needs.
Corporate restructurings require just about as much discipline as a diet. If management can stay on task and live up to its guidance, a leaner Calpine could prove much healthier for investors.
For more on Calpine:
- Calpine Is Catching On
- Can Calpine Generate More Cash?
- Calpine Pines for Better Days
- Calpine Powers Ahead
Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).
