THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shell, Bechtel Set Shortlist of Buyers For Power Venture: "The move is part of an effort by Shell to raise as much as $12 billion, or about €9 billion, by 2006, mostly through asset sales": (ShellNews.net) Posted 14 Jan 05.

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON -- Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Bechtel Group Inc. have arrived at a shortlist of at least six investors to buy their InterGen electricity-generation joint venture, according to people involved in the deal.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Bechtel, a closely held San Francisco construction company, put InterGen's portfolio of power plants up for sale in October. On the block are 10 power plants with a total capacity of 7,844 megawatts. The plants are scattered throughout Europe, Mexico, Australia, China and the Philippines.

The move is part of an effort by Shell to raise as much as $12 billion, or about €9 billion, by 2006, mostly through asset sales. Last year, the Anglo-Dutch oil company was forced to report that it had overestimated its proven oil reserves by about 20%. The company is selling noncore assets like InterGen, Burlington, Massachusetts, to focus on exploration and production to increase its base of proven reserves.

According to banking and industry people with knowledge of the situation, companies on the shortlist include Japan's Mitsubishi Corp., which is teamed up with Hong Kong-based CLP Holdings Ltd.; Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's private-equity arm, Teachers' Private Capital, which is joining with American International Group Inc.; Macquarie Bank Ltd. of Australia; Tanjong PLC of Malaysia; YTL Corp of Malaysia; and BTU Ventures, based in Dubai.

Representatives of Teachers' Private Capital, Macquarie and BTU declined to comment. Representatives for Mitsubishi, American International Group, YTL and Tanjong couldn't be reached. Shell also declined to comment.

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