Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Monday, December 22, 1997
Merger will create 3rd largest utility
DALLAS -- American Electric Power Co. is buying Central & South West Corp. for about $6.6 billion in stock, creating a utility giant with more than 8 million customers in 11 states and England.AEP, the nation's third largest utility, is based in Columbus, Ohio. Central & South West is based in Dallas. The deal, announced today, will create a utility with about 4.6 million customers in the United States and 4 million abroad. It is the latest in a string of U.S. utility mergers.
Goldman Sachs to buy bad Japanese loans
TOKYO -- Goldman Sachs & Co. aims to buy as much as $3.86 billion in bad loans backed by real estate from Japanese banks in a bet that Japan's real estate market will soon hit bottom, a company official in Tokyo said.Real estate prices have been falling here for seven years, tumbling more than 70 percent in the nation's biggest industrial areas since peaking in 1990. The slide, which followed the popping of a speculative bubble, has left Japanese banks holding billions in bad loans and helped slow the economy. Goldman's move comes as Japan strives to deregulate its financial markets, creating opportunities for foreign securities firms.
In other news . . .
NEW YORK -- American International Group Inc. will pay $2.2 billion in stock and cash for American Bankers Insurance Group, expanding its U.S. retail insurance sales, the insurance and financial services company said. The payment will consist of AIG stock equal to $47 a share, a 6.2 percent premium over American Bankers' closing price Friday. New York-based AIG also said it will pay cash "in certain circumstances" to shareholders who request it.