Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Calpine seen well positioned after bankruptcy

From Reuters:

With its low carbon-emitting fleet, the future looks bright for bankrupt power company Calpine Corp (CPNLQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) after its emergence from Chapter 11, expected in the coming weeks.

After it exits bankruptcy protection, Calpine will be the nation's largest independent power producer, having nearly 24,000 megawatts of generating capacity, mainly fired by natural gas, which makes Calpine an attractive investment, analysts say.

Also, many of Calpine's power plants are well-located in the power markets of California and Texas. It will also be the market leader in geothermal generation.

"Calpine is very well positioned," Daniele Seitz, analyst at investment bank Dalman Rose, told Reuters.

"The fleet is more environmentally friendly," she added.

Lehman Brothers, in initiating coverage on Wednesday, sees a nearly 50 percent rise in Calpine's shares, which it calculated as $16.90 emerging from Chapter 11, based on its current enterprise value....MORE