2nd Protest of BlackRock/GIP Merger
By Tyson Slocum
Today in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission docket EC24-58, we submitted a follow-up protest to our May 13 challenge of BlackRock’s acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners. Our second joint protest is filed pursuant to the Commission’s May 13 notice of the joint applicant’s May 10 supplement.[1]
Page 2 of the May 10 BlackRock-GIP supplement states that “the ALLETE Transaction is beyond the scope of the Commission’s consideration of the Proposed Transaction [BlackRock-GIP] addressed in this docket”, and describes GIP’s proposed acquisition of Allette and its franchised utility subsidiaries as “non-material” to the proposed transaction. BlackRock’s acquisition of GIP, and, in turn, GIP’s purchase of Allete, fundamentally transforms BlackRock from the world’s largest passive investor into an entity with active control over significant power market assets, threatening competition, rates and regulation.[2] The proposed Allete acquisition is a significant, material change to the BlackRock-GIP joint application.
In addition to the issues already raised in our May 13 joint protest,[3] BlackRock controls 9.9% and 9.1%, respectively, of Cleveland Cliffs and US Steel[4]—two taconite facility customers of Allete representing 70% of Minnesota Power’s entire industrial demand.[5] BlackRock’s control of 13.1% of Allete’s voting shares[6] and nearly 10% of two of Allete’s largest customers, raise horizontal competition and conflict of interest concerns.
The Commission must find the March 12 joint application to be deficient; incorporate the pending Global Infrastructure Partners acquisition of Allete as a part of this proceeding; and set the matter for evidentiary hearing.
Read a .pdf of the filing here 2ndBlackRockProtest
[1] https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=42CA1331-B3E0-C45C-9B30-8F7239200000
[2] www.ferc.gov/electric/general-information/mergers-and-sections-201-and-203-transactions
[3] https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filelist?accession_number=20240513-5027
[4] Appendix A of BlackRock’s Quarterly Report, Docket No. EC16-77, filed May 14, 2024, https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=C0B1BFE3-F9CD-C0B7-A7F2-8F777E800000
[5] At page 10, www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/66756/000006675624000007/ale-20231231.htm
[6] Appendix A of BlackRock’s Quarterly Report, Docket No. EC16-77, filed May 14, 2024, https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=C0B1BFE3-F9CD-C0B7-A7F2-8F777E800000