Climate Changed
Elliott’s Sempra Bid Is a Warning to Utilities Who Dare to Branch Out
- Elliott Management, Bluescape call for sweeping overhaul
- Sempra shares rally 18% -- most ever -- in intraday trading
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In targeting California power giant Sempra Energy for a major overhaul, billionaire investor Paul Singer may have just inadvertently delivered a warning shot to all of America’s growth-starved electric utilities.
Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. and Bluescape Resources Co. said Sempra’s share price has underperformed its peers and its “achievable value” in their call for the company to go back to basics. But there are other utilities that have sought profits outside their core businesses and have lagged the the S&P 500 Utilities Index, like Sempra. They include Dominion Energy Inc., PPL Corp. and Black Hills Corp., according to Bloomberg Intelligence.