Merger

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. is an Annapolis company that's racked up a big portfolio of technology and intellectual property around text messaging and E-911 services. The company's got a mix of government and commercial customers, and it routinely wins multi-million dollar federal contracts. As a result, it's a big employer in the area. But its stock price isn't doing so well. After peaking nearly $10 in late 2009, it's now down to $2.23  as of this morning. And that's got J. Carlo Cannell, managing member of Cannell Capital, apparently worried enough to start pressuring TSYS to come up with a clearer vision, and consider a sale or merger.

For the first time in nearly two decades, Southwest Airlines, the biggest commercial carrier at BWI, does not sit atop the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index. The top spot was claimed by JetBlue Airways, with a satisfaction score of 81 on a 100-point scale. Southwest scored 77, its lowest mark in five years. The index has been tracking American consumer satisfaction since 1994. It is compiled after interviews with about 80,000 people on a range of products and services.

The state outlined Friday how it proposes to spend the $113.5 million that Exelon Corp. agreed to put in a "customer investment fund" as part of its merger with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s parent. The biggest piece — $44 million — would go to weatherization services and furnace replacement for low-income residents with high energy bills. Other proposed uses include building off-the-grid public schools and helping small businesses improve their energy efficiency. The Maryland Public Service Commission approved Exelon's acquisition of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group this year on the condition that it create the investment fund with half of the merger's estimated "synergy" savings.

Exelon Corp. and Constellation have donated $1.8 million for a new energy exhibit at the Maryland Science Center , the first public display of their charitable commitment to the city and state since the merger between the energy giants closed in March, the companies announced Tuesday. In acquiring Constellation, Exelon promised to maintain the Baltimore company's annual charitable contribution of $7 million in Baltimore and Maryland for at least a decade. The financial commitment was part of a $1 billion package of concessions associated with regulatory approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission.

While Constellation Energy Group has a new owner in Exelon Corp., 450 workers at three coal-fired plants once owned by the Baltimore company are in limbo. As a condition of its purchase of Constellation last month, the Chicago energy giant has committed to selling the Brandon Shores and H.A. Wagner plants in Anne Arundel County and the C.P. Crane plant in Baltimore County by the end of the year. The sale is not expected to be easy, because the economic prospects for coal plants have dimmed, given falling natural gas prices and stricter air-quality regulations due to come online over the next few years, analysts said.

BGE's 1.1 million residential customers will get a nice surprise in their May bill: a $100 credit on their accounts. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. announced Friday that most customers will receive the credit by the end of May. The ratepayer relief is part of the merger between BGE's parent Constellation Energy Group and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. The two companies agreed to provide the rate credit under an agreement with Maryland energy regulators, which approved the deal in February.

When the sale of Constellation Energy Group to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. was announced last April, Calvin G. Butler Jr. was in Baltimore, ready to build support and win over critics. Butler, 42, Exelon's senior vice president of corporate affairs, took up residence at Spinnaker Bay apartments in Harbor East for almost a year while he served as the company's eyes and ears in Maryland. He met with state and city officials, business leaders and nonprofits, including those skeptical about the deal's benefits for consumers and Baltimore.

Maryland energy regulators have ordered Exelon Corp. to explain how the company "inadvertently" violated some conditions related to its merger with Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group. As part of Maryland Public Service Commission's approval for the deal, the companies agreed to several conditions, including selling Constellation's three coal-fired plants in Maryland to mitigate concerns over market concentration in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid. Until the plants could be sold, the companies agreed to sell power from those facilities as well as others in the region's wholesale energy market at a price it costs to operate the plants, said Exelon spokeswoman Judith Rader.

SECU, Maryland's largest state-chartered credit union, announced Tuesday that it will acquire Anne Arundel County Employees Federal Credit Union. The proposed merger — with SECU as the surviving entity — would expand banking services and access to AACE FCU, which has 14,000 members and $81 million in assets, the financial cooperatives said. The Anne Arundel County employees credit union joins the larger entity, which has over 225,000 members and $2.26 billion in assets.

Constellation Energy Group and Exelon Corp. are expected to close their $7.9 billion merger Monday, after the deal cleared its final regulatory hurdle Friday. The approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ends an almost yearlong effort to combine the companies — creating the largest non-utility energy provider in the United States. The deal also means that Baltimore will lose its last Fortune 500 company; the new company will be headquartered in Chicago but will maintain a large footprint here, including a new building in Harbor Point.