Private Equity Power Play in Minnesota

https://prospect.org/environment/2025-10-02-private-equity-power-play-minnesota/



On Friday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC)—a five-member board of commissioners appointed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to regulate the utility industry—will decide the fate of a $6.2 billion proposal to acquire ALLETE, the parent company of Minnesota Power, an electric utility in northeastern Minnesota that serves approximately 150,000 customers throughout the region.

Global Infrastructure Partners, which the asset management giant BlackRock acquired for $12.5 billion last year, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) plan to take ALLETE private, in a deal announced in May 2024 that concluded over a year of closed-door negotiations, complete with confidentiality agreements, secretive dinners, and “fireside chats” led by the company’s C-suite executives. The new ownership group says it will provide Minnesota Power with fresh capital to comply with a state law requiring utilities to deliver “100% carbon-free electricity by 2040.”

Ratepayers, consumer advocates, watchdog groups, environmental organizations, and industrial customers have opposed the acquisition, arguing it would cause rates to skyrocket and compromise reliability. Nineteen Minnesota state lawmakers have also requested that the PUC deny approval for the purchase. Meanwhile, ALLETE and BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners appear to be exerting immense institutional power to shape public opinion, discredit opponents, and persuade the PUC to sanction the deal. And officials associated with Gov. Walz’s administration are apparently participating in that effort.

On July 15, Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Megan J. McKenzie issued a damning report that enumerated every foreseeable way the bid to buy the company could jeopardize the public interest. Based on her review of both public and nonpublic evidence, as well as months of evidentiary hearings, the ALJ recommended that the PUC deny the acquisition. Not only did the report lend credibility to the opposition’s claims, it revealed how “numerous commenters” expressing support for the deal were either Minnesota Power employees or members of organizations that received financial support from the company.

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