Business & Money

A spate of proposed U.S. tax rule changes soon may open a window of opportunity for certain utilities.

In the mid-1990s, before the rise of the Internet and the fall of Enron changed the calculus of business investing and the regulatory landscape, the historically staid U.S. utility industry began to be viewed as a "growth play." This triggered a global buying spree that led U.S. companies to invest tens of billions of dollars in electricity generation and distribution businesses all over the world.

Those heady days are gone, and so are the sky-high valuations of those once-prized overseas power-plant transmission and distribution assets. However, a spate of proposed U.S. tax rule changes, such as those outlined in the Homeland Investment Act on Repatriation (HIA) may soon open a window of opportunity for U.S. companies with unrepatriated foreign earnings. If passed, HIA potentially would allow U.S. utilities to bring money back into the country without harsh tax penalties, thereby freeing up capital to reinvest in assets here, pay down U.S. debt, or fund other liabilities, (, under-funded pension plans).

However, to benefit from HIA, U.S. companies will have to move fast and incisively, because the decisions and execution windows are likely to be open only for a brief period. To get ready, companies should take the time right now to carefully analyze, understand, reorganize, refinance, and put detailed tax and business plans into place.