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Deere sells wind energy business for $900M

By (Breaking Legal News)

Deere & Co. will sell its wind energy business to a subsidiary of Exelon for $900 million, the company said Tuesday, potentially signaling an active merger and acquisition period ahead for the power industry.

With energy prices persistently low due to a grinding economic recovery, stakes in the power industry have begun to shift.

Earlier this month, Blackstone Group paid $542.7 million to take Houston's Dynegy Inc. private. In a three-way deal, Dynegy also sold four power plants to NRG Energy Inc. for $1.36 billion in cash.

Deere said in February it was reviewing options for John Deere Renewables. It saw the wind business as an extention of its agricultural work, with projects located in rural areas.

Deere was involved in project management and financing, buying much of the hardware used in the wind projects from India's Suzlon Energy, one of the biggest suppliers in the world. Deere invested $1 billion over the past five years in the financing, development and ownership of wind energy projects.

On Tuesday, Deere said the sale will allow it to get back to what it does best, which is manufacturing farm equipment.

Full post as published by Breaking Legal News on August 31, 2010 (boomark / email).