Shareholders of the El Paso Electric Co. have approved a plan greenlighting the sale of the company to the Infrastructure Investments Fund (IIF), a private investment vehicle advised by J.P. Morgan Investment Management.
The majority of shareholders — 99.6 percent — voted in favor of the agreement at a special meeting held on Sept. 19.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The El Paso Electric Co., a regional electric utility, services 424,000 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000-square-mile area of the Rio Grande Valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico.
The company was started in 1901 as the El Paso Electric Railway Co., providing transportation via mule-drawn streetcars, according to the utility’s website. By 1925, the company had evolved into an electricity producer and distributor, rebranding to its current name and expanding its service to include southern New Mexico.
The deal is expected to close in first half 2020, subject to remaining approvals by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the City of El Paso.
