In 2020 PNM and Avangrid, an energy company with utilities and generation facilities in 24 states, announced their intentions to merge. The $8.3B purchase is worth a very healthy 20 times PNM’s projected earnings and would result in a hefty $713 million cash buyout to PNM shareholders. PNM would then become a subsidiary of Avangrid, which is itself a subsidiary of Iberdrola, a Spanish company worth $85B, and one of the largest energy companies in the world. One lawyer stood in the way, Mariel Nanasi of New Energy Economy; 23 other parties, including the NM AG, Hector Balderas, did not. In December the NM Public Regulation Commission (PRC) sided with Nanasi.
On this month’s show host Stephen Spitz sits down with Mariel Nanasi to find out how a single lawyer obtained such an outsized victory and whether she is right on the merits.
Produced with assistance of Elias Henry, Roman Garcia and Lynn Schibeci
Podcast: Play in new window | Download