A consortium has agreed to pay $45 billion (£22.9 billion) for Texan power firm TXU in what is being seen as the world's biggest private equity deal.
An investor group led by private equity firms KKR and Texas Pacific agreed to pay $69.25 (£35.24) per share for TXU, a 15.4 per cent premium on the closing stock price on Friday.
Other investors in the deal included GS Capital Partners, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley.
"This is a momentous event for our company in our long journey to transform TXU from a former integrated monopoly to high performance businesses. The new ownership and business structure will enable us to better meet the growing energy needs of Texans," TXU chief executive and chairman C. John Wilder said.
The electricity provider's new owners said they planned to slash prices and forge environmentally friendly policies.
"We have developed a new vision with management of how we can turn TXU into a more innovative, customer-centric, environmentally friendly company, and we plan to work with management to implement it," KKR founder Henry Kravis said.
TXU confirmed it is cutting eight out of 11 new coal-fired plants in Texas, a decision expected to save 56 million tonnes a year in carbon emissions.
Today's purchase may not be the only joint project currently underway by TXU's new owners.
Collaborating with private equity firms Blackstone and CVC, KKR and Texas Pacific are rumoured to have set their sights on a potential £11 billion bid for supermarket chain J Sainsbury.
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