Dive Brief:
- Talen Energy began trading on the New York Stock Exchange last week under the symbol "TLN," debuting at $20/share before trending slightly lower during a week's worth of trading.
- Talen, which was created by spinning off PPL's generation assets and combining them with those belonging to Riverside Holdings, is one of the largest independent generators in the country, with 15,000 MW of capacity in two major wholesale markets.
- The company's generation assets lean towards more traditional resources, with about 43% of its power coming from natural gas, 40% coal and 15% nuclear.
Dive Insight:
A week is too soon to tell, but Talen Energy's stock price did receive a fairly hum-drum welcome to the NYSE. The new generation stock began trading at $20 on June 2, now sits around $19/share, and has traded lower than that.
The spin-off finishes a five-year process for PPL, which will now focus on its regulated utilities. Talen will be 65% owned by PPL and 35% by Riverstone.
"The combination with Riverstone was the first step in Talen Energy's growth plans," Paul Farr, President and CEO of Talen, said in a statement.
The company is a "pure-play competitive energy company," he continued, adding that it "will focus on extracting value from our existing portfolio of generating assets, and identifying quality assets in attractive markets that are accretive to cash flow."
Talen Energy owns about 15,000 MW, mostly in the PJM and ERCOT markets. The company has agreed to divest 1,300 MW in PJM under an agreement with FERC.
Talen said its nuclear, gas, and coal give it the scale and diversity to lead in the generation sector. But the company has only 2% hydro generation and no other renewables are listed in its statement.
SNL reports that Talen is looking at selling some renewable assets which total about 25 MW -- development projects that came from PPL Renewable Energy LLC. Talen spokesman George Lewis told the news outlet that the assets are mostly landfill gas, along with some rooftop solar and a lone wind facility.
Officials estimated that on a pro-forma basis, Talen assets generated annual revenue of $4.3 billion in 2014.
