Power Plant Deal Called Largest Sale-Leaseback

CMS Energy Corp. said Monday that its Midland Cogeneration Venture power plant has been sold for $2.3 billion in what is believed to be the largest sale-leaseback deal in U.S. history.

Paul Knopick, a CMS spokesman, said 65% of the plant--built as a nuclear facility but later converted to a gas-fired cogeneration plant--was bought by a group of major companies that did not want to be identified.

The remaining 35% was bought by a CMS subsidiary, with the plant leased back to the original partnership that converted it into a gas-fired facility. The deal is for 25 years.

The original partnership included CMS, Dow Chemical Co. and Michigan’s largest utility, Consumers Power Co., a CMS subsidiary.

The partnership halted construction of the plant in 1984 after spending $4.2 billion. It was 85% complete when the facility became mired in financing and regulatory wrangles.