Making the transition from investment banking to corporate development is not easy, as we've reported
here and
here. But it's much smoother when the banker has expertise in the industry in question. That's the case with Eric S. Gleason, who will take over as
vice president of corporate development at Allegheny Energy on Aug. 4. Gleason has spent the past 11 years advising utility and energy companies as an executive director at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and a vice president at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Allegheny, an investor-owned utility that posted revenue of about $875,000 in the first quarter of 2008, is not an acquisitive company. The only significant deal the company has completed in the past few years was its 2001
acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Global Energy Markets business for $490 million. That deal was part of Allegheny's strategy of becoming a national player in the wholesale generation sales market -- a market that changed dramatically following Enron's 2001 implosion.
It's not clear if Gleason's arrival signals M&A activity ahead. The release says only that Gleason will be responsible for strategic planning and development, and power market modeling and analysis.
- Suzanne Stevens
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