AES to Sell Assets, Trim Spending

AES Corp. plans to sell as much as $1.5 billion in assets and trim spending by 41% as the United States electricity producer tries to avoid a cash crunch after losses in Latin America.

AES wants to sell an Illinois utility, a Dominican Republic power plant and a minority stake in Ipalco, an Indiana utility, company executives said. AES will cut spending by $490million to $710million, and Chief Executive Dennis Bakke will sell 7million AES shares to repay a $36-million personal loan.

AES is shedding assets at a time when energy companies such as Williams Co. and Calpine Corp. have offered billions of dollars of power plants, pipelines and utilities for sale to improve their balance sheets.

AES, which produces electricity in 32 countries, also will withdraw from trading in spot markets such as New York, California and Britain because of higher risk from wide price swings. AES will shut plants, sell them or arrange to sell power under long-term contracts.

Shares of AES, which is based in Arlington, Va., fell $2.25 to close at $4.75 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.