Fort Chicago branches out

Article Excerpt

FORT CHICAGO ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. $10.41 (Toronto symbol FCE.UN; Units outstanding: 142.3 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 9.9%) has agreed to buy hydroelectric power developer Swift Power (symbol SPC on Toronto) for $8.5 million in cash. Fort Chicago had already purchased a 9% stake in Swift Power in February 2010. All of Swift’s projects are in the development stage. Its proposed 20-megawatt Dasque Cluster project near Terrace, B.C., is its most advanced. Swift has already signed a long-term power-purchase agreement with BC Hydro for the Dasque Cluster project’s electricity. The plant is scheduled to start up in late 2012. Swift has also filed nine other applications with the B.C. government to build hydroelectric plants on various waterways. The Swift purchase is small for Fort Chicago, but it lets it tap into a growth area beyond its energy pipelines and processing plants. Fort Chicago is still a buy. buy…