Private equity firm returns $13.3M to PNM’s parent company following criticism

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission in July voted 2-1 to rule that a $400 million stock transaction between a Blackstone Infrastructure affiliate and TXNM Energy Inc., which owns PNM, violated state law, in part because the companies did not first obtain PRC approval.

The commission ordered the companies to undo the sale, rendering it “void and of no effect.”

Critics of the proposed $11.5 billion merger between Blackstone and TXNM were quick to point out that, in subsequent regulatory filings, Blackstone’s attorneys revealed that the private equity firm held onto about $13.3 million in dividends created by the stock sale after undoing the stock sale.

“They complied with the ‘void’ part, but not the ‘of no effect’ part,” Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the Santa Fe-based clean energy advocacy organization New Energy Economy, told Source NM. “If it never happened, then you can’t be making profit off of it.”

Opponents to the overall merger took aim at the $13.3 million in dividends at a recent public comment hearing that the PRC held on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque late last month.

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In a regulatory filing this week, attorneys for Blackstone wrote that the firm repaid the $13.3 million to TXNM on Aug. 7, “after consultation” with PRC regulatory staffers.

Blackstone did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment.

Last month, Blackstone and TXNM agreed to extend the deadline for the pending acquisition, which still needs state approval, to mid-2027. Company leaders have long said that a cash infusion from a firm like Blackstone would be the best way to invest in New Mexico’s aging power grid.

“We appreciate the NMPRC’s careful review of this case and look forward to further demonstrating why this partnership will strengthen the grid, support long-term investment and deliver meaningful benefits for customers and communities across New Mexico and Texas,” TXNM Energy President and CEO Don Tarry wrote in a statement at the time.