JEA procurement officials have announced that nine companies have been selected to move forward as the city-owned utility’s moves toward a possible sale.
Of the 16 replies received for JEA's invitation to negotiate, 13 satisfied the mandatory bidding requirements, according to WJCT News partner the Jacksonville Daily Record. That list was pared to nine by a JEA evaluation team the utility announced Monday.
Eight of the companies gave permission to reveal their identities, which was not required. They are:
• NextEra Energy Inc.
• Duke Energy Corp.
• Emera Inc. and American Water Works Co. Inc.
• American Public Infrastructure LLC
• JEA Public Power Partners — a consortium of Bernhard Capital Partners, Emera Inc. and Suez SA.
• IFM Investors PTY Ltd.
• Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Inc.
About the companies
NextEra owns Florida Power & Light Co., whose CEO confirmed interest in JEA assets in August.
Emera is the parent company of TECO Peoples Gas.
The JEA Public Partners consortium comprises Emera; Bernhard Capital Partners, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based equity firm; and Suez, a French drinking and wastewater treatment service company.
American Water Works Inc. operates drinking and wastewater services in 46 states and has 7,100 employees nationwide
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Asset Inc. is an Australian-based global asset management company whose parent, the Macquarie Group Ltd., has offices in RiverPlace Tower on the Downtown Southbank.
In an interview with the Daily Record on Oct. 4 during a visit to the office, Macquarie Managing Director and CEO Shemara Wikramanayake said the company was interested in acquiring JEA.
She said the company manages many utility assets, with more than 100 energy projects around the world through its Green Investment Group.
JEA's power and water assets is "definitely something we would look at," Wikramanayake said.
Two of the bids came from financial asset management companies. IFM Investors is a company based in Melbourne, Australia, and American Public Infrastructure, which also engages in strategic advisory and consulting, is based in Chicago.
A look at JEA’s evaluation committee members is in the expanded version of this story at JaxDailyRecord.com.
