San Francisco, 19 February 2010

Sempra Energy and Royal Bank of Scotland Plc will hire investment bankers at Lazard (LAZ) to help sell their North American commodity-trading joint venture as the companies proceed with the $1.7 billion sale of another part of the business, Sempra told regulators Friday: Dow Jones Reports. RBS and Sempra said Tuesday that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) had agreed to buy the European and Asian parts of their energy-trading joint venture, RBS Sempra Commodities, for about $1.7 billion, a price that reflects the book value of the operation plus $468 million.

Next, the California utility holding company and the U.K. bank will engage Lazard to find a buyer for their entire North American power and natural gas trading business, based in Stamford, Conn., Sempra wrote in a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Bidders will be asked to submit bids that separately value Sempra's portion of the business, the company said.

Sempra suggested that it might purchase RBS's interest in the business if "the sale process...does not result in a sale of the whole business."

Sempra executives said Tuesday the company is discussing with RBS and J.P. Morgan the possibilities for one or both of the banks to provide Sempra with the liquidity and credit support it would need to purchase RBS's share of the North American operation.

Sempra, which has a 49% stake in the joint venture, expects to receive about $ 940 million in proceeds from the sale of the European and Asian trading operations. That business includes global oil, metals, coal, emissions, plastics, agricultural commodities and concentrates commodities, Sempra said.

RBS paid $1.7 billion for its 51% stake in the business in April 2008. The European Union is forcing the bank to sell its stake in the commodities-trading joint venture as a condition of taking billions in state aid.

The sale to J.P. Morgan requires governmental approvals from the U.K. Financial Services Authority, the U.S. Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission, Canadian regulators and "other jurisdictions" yet to be identified, Sempra said.

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By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires