Update on the PSE Merger

This is direct from an email PSE employees received regarding the status of the merger. Getting closer. Exciting to see what the future holds.
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Puget Sound Energy merger parties expect to close by Feb. 6

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Jan. 16, 2009 – Puget Holdings LLC, a group of long-term infrastructure investors, and Puget Energy (NYSE:PSD) today announced they expect to close Puget Holdings’ $7.4 billion purchase of Puget Energy and its wholly-owned utility subsidiary, Puget Sound Energy, by Feb. 6, 2009.
“We accept the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission order approving the merger and expect to close the transaction by February 6,” said Christopher J. Leslie, chief executive officer of Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and spokesman for Puget Holdings. “We are committed to using our combined access to capital to support the plans of PSE’s local management to meet the utility’s steady increase in demand for energy.”
Stephen P. Reynolds, chairman, president and CEO of Puget Energy and PSE, said, “I am excited about having committed access to capital and being able to focus our time and attention on serving our customers. With Puget Holdings’ strong, patient investors, we will have the resources to build the infrastructure and secure the clean energy supplies needed to serve the growing region.”
Puget Holdings has committed to support the utility’s $5 billion capital program (approximately $1 billion a year) for the next five years for infrastructure projects and energy supplies needed to maintain and improve the reliability of the electric and natural gas systems in the region. Puget Holdings has also committed to provide $100 million in rate credits and other savings. Customers could begin seeing these rate credits on their bills as early as March 2009, continuing for the next 10 years.
Upon closing, PSE will continue to maintain PSE’s headquarters within Washington state and retain existing management and employees. The approved merger conditions guarantee that three current PSE board members will continue on the board of PSE after the transaction closes, ensuring locally based, experienced governance. William (Bill) S. Ayer, chairman and chief executive of Alaska Air Group, will become the chairman of the boards of directors for Puget Holdings and PSE. Stephen P. Reynolds, who will remain as PSE president and CEO, will also serve on the Puget Holdings and PSE boards. The PSE board will also include Herbert B. Simon, a member of Simon Johnson LLC, a real estate and venture capital projects investment company in Tacoma.
With the same local PSE employees operating the same local utility in more than 100 Washington state communities, PSE will continue to be regulated by the UTC, as well as by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other federal, state and local agencies. The utility’s long history of actively supporting the communities it serves will be extended with increased funding of $5 million from Puget Holdings to the Puget Sound Energy Foundation as a result of the merger.
Puget Energy’s common stock will remain listed on the NYSE until the merger closes. Upon closing, Puget Holdings will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Puget Energy common stock for $30 per share in cash. To ensure that shareholders continue to receive dividends at the current rate until closing of the merger, Puget Energy plans to pay a special pro rata dividend based on the number of days from the last regular dividend record date (Jan. 21, 2009) until the closing date of the merger, payable to shareholders of record as of a date prior to the closing to be established by the board of directors. Information on how to convert Puget Energy’s common shares into cash after the merger closes is available on www.PugetEnergy.com.
Puget Holdings is comprised of Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, Alberta Investment Management Corporation, Macquarie-FSS Infrastructure Trust and Macquarie Capital Group.