Lawyers for New Mexico’s largest electric company and the private equity firm seeking to acquire it argued Thursday that a $400 million stock sale did not violate New Mexico law. The testimony came as part of an eight-hour evidentiary hearing before the Public Regulation Commission, during which protesters gathered outside PNM’s downtown headquarters.
Blackstone and PNM’s parent company, TXNM Energy Inc., jointly announced the proposed $11.5 billion acquisition in 2025. If approved, it would give ownership of TXNM to Blackstone subsidiary Troy ParentCo LLC. Officials with the companies have long maintained that the takeover would quickly give PNM the capital it needs to “to thrive in a rapidly changing energy environment.”
Public Regulation Commission hearing examiners opened an investigation into the stock sale in March and paused the main acquisition proceedings after the Albuquerque anti-poverty nonprofit Prosperity Works sounded alarms over the $400 million transaction and argued that it could have violated the Public Utilities Act…