Constellation Energy Group

Gov. Martin O'Malley appointed Kevin Hughes and Kelly Speakes-Backman on Wednesday to fill vacancies on the Maryland Public Service Commission. The appointments come as the state's energy regulatory body prepares to tackle several important cases later this year, including the proposed sale of Constellation Energy Group to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. in a $7.9 billion deal. Hughes has served as O'Malley's deputy legislative officer since 2007, focusing on energy policy, among other issues.

Constellation Energy Group filed an application Wednesday with Maryland energy regulators to seek approval of its sale to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. In a 572-page application, Constellation and Exelon make their case for the $7.9 billion deal, which would create the largest competitive power supplier in the United States. The combined company would have headquarters in Chicago, but officials say the new entity would have a significant presence in Baltimore. The two companies have offered a $250 million incentive package, which includes a $100 credit for each customer of Constellation's regulated utility, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. The Maryland Public Service Commission is expected to hold hearings to examine the deal; it has 180 days under state law to make a decision.

1999: Constellation Energy Group Inc. becomes the holding company for BGE and related companies. Maryland passes an energy deregulation law. 2000: Constellation announces plan to split into two companies, BGE and a company to generate and sell power nationally. 2001: Constellation junks its plan to split. At the same time, it announces that Mayo A. Shattuck III, former chairman of Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown Inc., will become its chief executive officer. Christian H. Poindexter, who had led the company, retires.

Shares of anthrax-vaccine maker Emergent BioSolutions fell 6 percent in their first day of trading yesterday, the latest in a series of tepid initial public offerings by biotechnology companies this year. The Gaithersburg company, which trades under the symbol EBS on the New York Stock Exchange, is the sixth Maryland business to go public this year and one of two to make their debut yesterday. A partnership formed by Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group to develop natural gas fields in Alabama traded for the first time on the NYSE Arca exchange, opening at $21.75 under the ticker symbol CEP and closing at $22.08.

Now I know how Warren E. Buffett acquired all those companies so cheaply. The deal his MidAmerican Energy Holdings struck with the board of Constellation Energy Group last week smacks of possible management self-dealing. For accepting Mr. Buffett's steeply discounted offer at $26.50 per share, while spurning an offer that would have given shareholders $8.50 per share more while still providing Constellation all the cash it needs, the directors and management have a "lot of 'splainin' to do."

BGE Commercial Building Systems said yesterday that it has won a $10 million, two-year contract to provide electricity to Rouse Co.'s Maryland malls and its headquarters in Columbia. Under the state's deregulation plan, a price freeze that had been in effect for two years ends July 1 and nonresidential energy customers must select a new supplier - or stay with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and pay unstable spot-market prices. BGE Commercial Building Systems and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. are both part of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group.

In a surprise announcement, Christian H. Poindexter said yesterday that he is stepping down as chairman of Constellation Energy Group - almost a year and a half ahead of schedule. Poindexter will remain on the board, and Mayo A. Shattuck III, president and chief executive, will take over as chairman. The announcement was made shortly after 6 p.m. Poindexter announced his resignation as chief executive officer in October when the company abruptly scuttled its plan to split into two independent companies - a fast-growth, unregulated business that would generate and sell power nationwide and a regional electric company that would include its regulated utility Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. He said then that he would remain chairman through October next year.

From Jay Hancock's blog: Constellation Energy Group's board met on Friday, and there was speculation that it would vote to exercise an option to sell fossil-fuel electricity plants to France's EDF Group. The plants are worth $1 billion. The option gives CEG the right to sell for $2 billion. Naturally the French really really don't want CEG to pull the trigger. But CEG seems not to have yet exercised its "put. " If the board had acted one would have expected an announcement on Friday.

Constellation Energy Group's board of directors on Friday elected Samuel Minzberg to fill a seat slated for its French partner. Minzberg is replacing Daniel Camus, chief financial officer of French EDF Group, which is the Baltimore company's largest shareholder and a partner in a nuclear development venture between the two companies. No reason was given for Camus' resignation. Minzberg is a partner in the Montreal law firm of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. The two companies have been trying to develop nuclear projects in the U.S., most prominently at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland.

Constellation Energy Group's nuclear venture partner is asking Maryland energy regulators to be a party in the case examining the proposed merger between the Baltimore company and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. In a petition filed Thursday with the Maryland Public Service Commission, French utility EDF Group said its "interests are unique and will be affected by the proposed transaction which implicates significant issues related to reliability. " EDF owns nearly half of Constellation's nuclear power business, which operates plants in New York and two Calvert Cliffs units in Southern Maryland.