Sempra to Buy Stakes in Argentine Utilities

Sempra Energy agreed to buy Dominion Resources Inc.’s stakes in three Argentine utilities for $145 million as it expands in Latin American power markets. Sempra Energy International, parent of Southern California Gas Co., will get a 21.5% stake in holding companies that control Camuzzi Gas Pampeana and Camuzzi Gas Del Sur. This will raise Sempra’s stakes in the holding companies to 43%. The San Diego-based company also is buying 25% of a holding company with controlling interest in Empresa Distribuidora de Energia Atlantica, an electricity supplier serving more than 400,000 customers in Buenos Aires. Sempra’s business in Latin America includes investments in Chile, Peru and Uruguay. Last month, it formed a partnership with Mexico’s closely held Proxima Gas to build a $230-million natural-gas pipeline from Arizona to Mexico. Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources received the stakes in the Argentine companies in January as part of its $9-billion purchase of Consolidated Natural Gas Co. of Pittsburgh. In NYSE trading, Sempra, with 6 million customers in Southern California, rose 13 cents to close at $18.50, and Dominion Resources rose 44 cents to close at $46.19.