NM Gas Co., which provides natural gas to T or C residences, is being sold by its owner, Emera US Holdings, the US branch of Emera, a Canadian energy firm, to an entity called Saturn Holdco, which was created by the equity (investment) firm Bernhard Capital Partners Management solely to own NM Gas Co. I take it that the separation between Saturn and BCP allows BCP to extract money from its investment but have no risks. The sale has to be approved by the people as represented by the NM Public Regulation Commission. See the article on this sale from New Mexico Political Report: click on https://nmpoliticalreport.com/news/what-to-know-about-nm-gas-co-s-application-to-transfer-ownership/.
What you need to know, November 2, 2024: New Mexico Gas Company selling out
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Max Yeh
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I should mention that this sale turns a public company (one that sell shares and is therefore regulated and required to show its financial dealings) into a private company whose transactions will not be public. In the past, coal companies that were turned private sometimes got smaller and smaller and eventually went bankrupt, leaving the pits for the public to cleanup. This is one of the reasons I mention that NM Gas will be owned by a subsidiary. If there is a bankruptcy, the real owners will walk away without any legal responsibilities or debt. The article mentions the risks of owning a gas company when we are trying to give up petroleum based energy, but there is no real risk. In fact, there is an opportunity to pull money out of NM Gas and leave it and its customers dry. The public won’t know that is happening until it happens.
Utilities are state regulated because they are monopolies which everyone depends on. Privatization will make the company more difficult to monitor. We hope the PRC will scrutinize this sale carefully.