RBS-Sempra to Sell Wholesale North American Power, Gas Operation to JP Morgan

Sempra Energy and The Royal Bank of Scotland announced yesterday that they have agreed to sell most of the remaining assets of RBS Sempra Commodities, including the North American wholesale gas and power trading business, to JP Morgan Ventures Energy Corp. for approximately $220 million.

The assets being sold include wholesale natural gas and power trading agreements, as well as over-the-counter and exchange-traded transactions, with counterparties across North America. The counterparties are natural gas producers, pipeline and storage providers, power plants, regasification facilities, utilities, and municipal customers.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The sale, together with previously announced sales, will complete the divestiture of the last of the principal assets of RBS Sempra Commodities. In September, RBS Sempra announced an agreement to sell retail supplier Sempra Energy Solutions to Noble Group Ltd. for $317 million in cash, plus the assumption of $265 million in debt (Matters, 9/21/10)