TXNM Energy sale to Blackstone inches forward after Texas regulatory settlement

Blackstone Infrastructure’s acquisition of TXNM Energy Inc. seems to be sailing through the Texas regulatory process.

TXNM officials said Monday that its Texas arm, Texas-New Mexico Power Co., had agreed to terms with local stakeholders, including Walmart Inc., Public Utility Commission of Texas staff, Texas Industrial Energy Consumers, the Office of Public Utility Counsel, Texas Energy Association for Marketers and the cities it serves.

The settlement agreement means hearings that were scheduled to begin Monday have been canceled, and Texas regulators will make a final decision on the sale of TXNM to Blackstone as early as next month, a TXNM spokesperson said.

The news comes as a big win for TXNM and Blackstone, which filed their applications with Texas, New Mexico and federal regulators in August to sell the Albuquerque-based company to the private equity firm for $11.5 billion.

Texas-New Mexico Power serves some 260,000 customers across the state, including in towns near Dallas and Houston. But its New Mexico arm Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM, serves over 550,000 customers, making it by far the largest electric utility in the state. 

On Monday, Blackstone and TXNM also filed the proposed sale with additional regulatory bodies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, the spokesperson said.

TXNM and Blackstone still need to file with the Federal Communications Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The deal has not yet received any regulatory approvals, but an OK from the Public Utility Commission of Texas looks likely to be the first.

In the settlement agreement announced Monday, TXNM and Blackstone said Texas-New Mexico Power will provide nearly $46 million in customer rate credits over four years for its Texas customers, not reduce wages or implement workforce reductions, and “not seek recovery of transaction-related goodwill or acquisition costs in customer rates.”

Blackstone’s proposed purchase of TXNM recently gained the attention of U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who wrote in a letter to the private equity firm’s CEO earlier this month that the deal isn’t in the public’s best interest.

TXNM tried to merge with Avangrid Inc. five years ago, but New Mexico regulators said the potential harms of the $4.3 billion deal outweighed the benefits and ultimately rejected it.