WPS mindset: stay independent. (WPS Resources Corp.)

Utility postures for future; can't quell takeover talk

While blockbuster mergers involving Wisconsin Energy Corp., Milwaukee, and WPL Holdings Inc., Madison, are percolating through state and federal regulatory filters, the management team at Green Bay's WPS Resources Corp. is bucking that trend.

The mindset at WPS is to compete in a deregulated energy world by getting smarter-not bigger, said president and chief executive officer Larry Weyers.

That strategy includes WPS supporting Wisconsin Energy's proposed merger with Northern States Power Co., Minneapolis, and opposing WPL Holdings' merger with two Iowa utility firms. WPS has business reasons for its diver-sifted opinions on the proposed deals: It needs supply from Wisconsin Energy, and is embroiled in a dispute with WPL over a jointly owned nuclear power plant.

But while the changing postures of WPS may help it in its quest to remain independent, they haven't been enough to quell talk of the company becoming a takeover target itself.

When WPL disclosed in November 1995 its proposed $2 billion Interstate Energy Corp. …