PNM Resources plans on selling five million common shares to help repay a bridge loan used to fund an acquisition in April. The energy company had been planning to sell stock to cover the cost of buying the Twin Oaks Power facility outside of Dallas, explains Frederick Bermudez, investor relations manager in Albuquerque, N.M. In the weeks after the Nov. 3 announcement of a joint venture with Cascade Investments, PNM has seen its stock up nearly 7%. "The market reacted well to the Cascade announcement," Bermudez says.

PNM will use the proceeds, about $149 million, to pay down a portion of a $420 million bridge loan arranged by Lehman Brothers. Shares were priced at $30.79, their Dec. 6 closing price.

The remainder of the loan may be paid off with long-term debt, Bermudez says. The company will also have the option of using cash from cascade. Cascade will match the value of each asset contributed to the joint venture in cash. PNM then has the option of taking half of that cash and moving it up to the holding company. Bermudez said the company has not decided how it will proceed. He said the capital structure is near 50:50 and it aims to keep it that way.

PNM chose Lehman, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to serve as joint bookrunning managers based on their previous relationship with the company. Banc of America Securities, JP Morgan Chase, Robert Baird and Co., RBC Capital Markets, Wachovia Securities, and Citigroup were co-managers.

PNM now has more than 75 million shares outstanding. Shares hit a 52-week high of $31.58 on Dec. 6, and had a 52-week low of $22.49 on March 7.