American Energy "AE" was formed primarily to acquire and operate hydroelectric power plants. AE's strategy for growth is based on Vertical Integration. The corporation is a consortia of professional disciplines that have assembled to contribute their services and resources to project acquisition. The groups' objective is to create recurring income through a portfolio of hydroelectric power plants.
The founders of AE provide service to the hydroelectric industry as Civil Engineers, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Insurance and Turbine Manufacturing. Through wholesale relations and subsidies from their primary business, AE founders have developed and operate projects for a fraction of the competitions price.
Based on the current turbulence in the utility market, resulting from impending deregulation, electric generating assets are being disposed of at substantial discounts from their development cost. This seems to be influenced by power purchase contract instability, which is an over reactive response by utility companies. The utility companies fear they will lose their retail and industrial customer base. As a result they are only willing to provide short term power purchase contracts for electricity. In the absence of long term power contract commitments, the earnings multiple is reduced, resulting in much lower values for these assets.
In this volatility AE is strategically positioned to turn these market fears to their advantage. Through AE's consortium a national database of operating projects and rapport with their owners and operators has been established. AE has identified a group of willing project sellers that meet the above low contract criteria. By assembling these acquisitions certain cost reductions are feasible, such as consolidating financial and administrative operations and regulatory compliance. These hydroelectric projects have formed a base company poised for further expansion. Continued acquisitions would make accumulating $5-10 million in hydroelectric assets over a three to five year term a very reasonable goal. It is possible however that a single project could be the source of attaining this target amount, which would reduce the time necessary to achieve the desired acquisition volume. The overall intent being to pursue these projects based on low power contract values, that reflect the uncertainty of the deregulated market. For the interim these projects will cover their own debt service and provide a modest profit.
Based on the domestic United States hydroelectric market there is a limit to expansion, the industry is growing at a very slow pace and suffers from environmentalist opposition. We believe deregulation is tremendously favorable to the hydro industry. By decoupling the hydroelectric industry from the substantial capital of the utility companies environmental bondage will be eliminated. Hydroelectric projects will be measured as a financial resource and not the depth of an overall utility. This will level the playing field between the Independent Power Producers and the utility companies. As utility companies have to compete for customers a uniform demand for electricity will stabilize the market for power contracts. When the utility industry stabilizes or open access to power customers is available, the contract market will firm up, and the value of these projects will accelerate.
