Good fit for Brookfield

Article Excerpt

BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. $28.50 (Toronto symbol BEP.UN; Units outstanding: 132.8 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.brpfund.com) and a fund managed by Brookfield Asset Management (Toronto symbol BAM.A) have agreed to buy Alcoa’s 378- megawatt Tapoco hydroelectric project for $600 million U.S. Tapoco consists of four hydroelectric plants located on the Little Tennessee and Cheoah rivers in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. Brookfield Renewable will own 25% of Tapoco (at a cost of $150 million) and manage the plants. Brookfield Asset Management will own the remaining 75%. Power from the plants is only contracted for sale to the Tenessee Valley Authority until 2014. However, Alcoa has just upgraded the plants, and the long-term outlook for power prices in the southern U.S. is positive. Brookfield Renewable Energy is still a buy. buy…