Sempra to buy back shares

Sempra Energy, owner of the largest U.S. natural-gas utility, agreed to purchase $1 billion of its shares from Merrill Lynch & Co. as part of a $2-billion buyback program.

Sempra will pay Merrill for the shares on Feb. 8, and the receipt of the shares may extend into the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a public filing by the San Diego-based company. It said in July that it would repurchase as much as $2 billion of its shares with proceeds from the planned $1.35-billion sale of a majority stake in its commodities-trading business to Royal Bank of Scotland Group.