Ameren To Acquire Illinois Utilities

PEORIA, Illinois -- - Ameren Corp. has cleared the final hurdle in its quest to acquire CILCORP and Central Illinois Light Co. from AES Corp.

Ameren announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the acquisition, the last regulatory approval needed before the sale can be closed.

How soon the actual closing will occur is not set, said Ameren spokeswoman Susan Gallagher. She said only that Ameren still expects it to occur early in the first quarter. She declined to speculate whether it could be a matter of days or weeks.

Gallagher said some document work still must be completed between St. Louis-based Ameren and AES, the Arlington, Va.-based company that has owned CILCORP for just over three years.

Once that work is completed, the closing would occur soon thereafter, she said.

Ameren's offer of US$1.4 billion, much of which is debt assumption, was accepted by AES last April. But closing was subjected to regulatory approval of many state and federal agencies, including the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the US Department of Justice and the SEC.

The SEC approval was the last needed.

Once the sale is completed, CILCO will become known as AmerenCILCO. The CILCO headquarters will remain in Peoria, at least until 2005, as Ameren promised local officials at the same time it promised to retain at least 800 of CILCO's current 900 employees.

The acquisition will make Ameren the second-largest electric company in Illinois with more than 2 million customers, behind only Commonwealth Edison in Chicago.