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WestLB Capital Markets’ North America unit acted as exclusive Financial Advisor and Joint Bookrunner for LS Power Equity Partners (LS Power) in its acquisition of Duke Energy North America’s (DENA) entire fleet of power generation assets outside the Midwest for approximately US$ 1.5 billion. CSFB, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also acted as joint-bookrunners in the financing of the deal for the US$ 1.24 billion first and second lien term loan B financing.

“WestLB is happy to support high quality clients like LS Power, who have a significant presence in the power industry,” said Santino Basile, Co-Head of WestLB Financial Sponsors and the Power & Utilities groups.
The assets include approximately 6,200 megawatts of power generation, located in the western and northeastern United States. The transaction is subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Hart-Scott-Rodino approvals, and is expected to close before June 2006.

LS Power/DENA, as well as recently closed deals like Wolf Hollow and ASAlliance, further solidify WestLB’s market position in energy leveraged finance.

About LS Equity Partners
LS Power Equity Partners is a member of the LS Power Group. Founded in
1990, the LS Power Group is a fully integrated investor, developer and
management team focused exclusively on the power sector. Please contact Darpan
Kapadia, Managing Director at the LS Power Group, for more information at
212/615-3456.

About Duke Energy
Duke Energy is a diversified energy company with a portfolio of natural
gas and electric businesses, both regulated and unregulated, and an affiliated
real estate company. Duke Energy supplies, delivers and processes energy for
customers in the Americas. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a
Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at
http://www.duke-energy.com.