The Rise and Fall of The American & Foreign Power Company: A Lesson from the Past?

Given the expertise of American utility companies, it is no wonder that they want a piece of todays fore& investment action. But we have been there before and foreign adventures dont always work out as anticipated. In-addition to normal business risk, including fluctuating exchange rates, unforeseen political risks can seriously affect rates of return on investment.
William J Hausman and John L. Neufeld .S. utility investment in foreign electric utilities has bement in electric utilities has been a hot topic. The roaring 20s was an exceptional era in many ways, not the least for electric utilities. It was a period during which foreign investment was pursued with a vigor not seen again until recently In fact, foreign investment in electric utilities comprised the largest single component of U.S. foreign direct investment in the last halfof the 2920s. The expansion was dramatic, but the results were not as

William J. Hausman

is professor of

economics and chair of the Department of Economics at the College of William b Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. John L. Neufeld is professor of economics at the University of North CaroIina af Greensboro. They are the authors of numerous .articZes on the history of the U.S. electric utility industry and are working on a book on the subject.

come a topic of heated discussion and action in the electricity industry An article in a major industry trade association journal describes foreign investment in electric utilities as among the most exciting new frontiers confronting the industry But this frontier has been crossed before. There has been precious little recognition by those in the industry that this is not the first time foreign invest-

46

The Electricity Journal

expected. The anticipated economic returns from the investment boom of the 20s were not realized: Money was lost, and withdrawal from foreign entanglements proved to be exceedingly difficult. This article documents the quantitative importance of U.S. foreign direct investment in electric utilities during the 20s and examines in detail the rise and fall of the largest investor in foreign electric utilities during the period, The American & Foreign Power Company, a subsidiary of Electric Bond & Share, one of the high-flying utility holding companies of the period.

ance averaged $270 million per year(versusdeficitsaveraging $70 million per year over the previous 15 years). During the first World War and its immediate aftermath, the positive trade balancerose to unprecedented heights,averaging$3.5billionper year from 1916-1920. With return to normalcy,the trade balance declinedbutremainedpositive, averaging $1.3 billion per year from 1921-25 and $1.1 billion per year from 1926-30.2

prise. The other forms are portfolio investment (primarily corporate bonds) and investment in foreign government securities. Most foreign investment in the first half of the 1920s was portfolio investment, but during the second half of the decade the share going to direct investment gradually rose, with dramatic increases occurring in 1928 and 1929.3

the 1920s are presented in Table L4 Between 1914 and 1919, investment in public utilities increased only slightly, from $133 million to $138 million. This changed dramatically during the foreign investment boom that ensued. Public utility investment was the fastest growing component of foreign direct investment throughout the 192Os, and in the last half of the decade comprised nearly 40 percent of the total increase in foreign direct investment.5 That such a large and growing share of direct investment was in the public utility

he components

of U.S. forin

eign direct investment

rency balances and substantial claims on foreign assets and the U.S., for the first time in its history became a net investor in foreign countries. Between 1914 and 1919 total net U.S. foreign investment increased by $7.4 billion. Direct investment is one form of international capital transfer. Its distinctive feature is that it implies the acquisition of managerial control of the foreign enter-

he positive trade balance gave Americans foreign cur-

I. U.S. Foreign Direct Investment in the 1920s

Around the turn of the 20th century the United States, for the first time in its history, became a persistent net exporter of goods and services. Between 1896 and 1914 the positive U.S. trade bal-

Tablel: U . S .Fo r e i gD ni r ec t I nvest men t , 1919 - 1929

FD l 1919 FD11924 ' % ; ? ; I ?$ FD I l ?29 %Change %Change ( $m i l . ) ( $m i l . ) 1924 -29 1919 -29 ($mll.) To t aFD l I 3 , 880 5 , 38 9 t 39 7 , 553 t 40 t 95

sector was intimately related to events in the domestic industry The boom coincided with the dramatic rise in the U.S. stock market, and occurred in the midst of a major restructuring of the domestic electric power industry, which was being driven by a vigorous utility holding company movement. The stocks of electric utility holding companies were among the highest of the high flyers in the stock market frenzy of the late 1920s. Between June 1928 and September 1929 utility holding company

Public Utllltles
Manu f ac t u r i ng Oi l P r oduc t i& on D ist r i bu t i on S a l es & Pu r chasi ng O r gan iza t i ons Bank i ng M i n i ng Ag r i cu l t u r e Ra i l r o ad s

138
7 95 604

224
1 , 252 967

t62
t57 t 60

1,025
1 , 821 1 , 341

+358
t 45 t 39

+643
t 129 t 122

255 125 876 587 2 97

31 4 125 967 91 8 347

+ 23 0 t l0 t56 t 17

37 8 125 1 , 227 98 6 309

t20 0 t27 t7 - 11

t 48 0 t 40 t 68 t4

Ianuarylfebrua y 1997

47

stocks rose in value by 170percent,utilityoperating company stocks by 114 percent, and industrials by 46 percent.6 We have attempted to identify specific investments in foreign electric utilities during the 1920s and estimate their magnitude. The Electric Bond & Share Co. was by far the company most heavily committed to the acquisition and management of foreign utilities, and it operated on a nearglobal basis. At the end of 1929 it controlled around half, and possibly much more, of the total assets of U.S.-controlled foreign electric utilities, and was expanding aggressive+ Electric Bond & Share was not the only major foreign investor. The investments of J.E. Aldred, utility executive (President of Baltimore Gas & Electric), financier, and Chairman of the Gillette Safety Razor Co., were substantial. The investments of non-utility companies--such as International Paper & Power, Aluminum Company of America, and Union Carbide and Carbonwere impressive in their scale, although much of the power generated was used for industrial purposes. There also were other holding companies and one investment trust with substantial foreign holdings. n order to understand the business strategy of direct investment in foreign electric utilities, the remainder of the paper will focus on the activities of the Largest participant in the foreign electric investment boom, Ameri:an & Foreign Power.

II. The Rise and Fall of The American & Foreign Power co. Electric Bond & Share traces its origins to the earliest days of the industry In order to sell their electrical systems, the equipment manufacturers encouraged the establishment of local electric lighting companies. But the early lighting companies were small, strictly

ut B

order fo sell fheir electricalsystems, the equipment manufacturers encouragedthe establishmentof local electricligh f ing companies.
In

local enterprises, and financing them was often difficult. In order to help promote these local companies, the manufacturers would accept the securities of these companies as partial payment for equipment. The problem was what to do with these securities. Charles A. Coffin, the imaginative leader of the Thomson-Houston Company, devised a way to turn the bonds the company held into cash. Thomson-Houston organized the United Electric Securities Co., which issued its own bonds and debentures. With its superior reputation, and backed by a diverse portfolio of operating utili-

ties, the bonds were successfully sold to the public. When the Edison General Electric Company merged with Thomson-Houston in 1892, the newly-formed General Electric Company absorbed the subsidiary7 eneral Electric continued to hold capital stock in a number of electric utilities. To turn these stocks into cash it formed Electric Bond & Share in 1905. Control of Electric Bond & Share was put in the hands of Sidney Z. Mitchell, who demanded and received considerable independence from General Electric, even though General Electric held all of the common stock of the subsidiary8 The strategy developed by Electric Bond & Share was to form a series of holding companies to take control of a large number of diverse operating companies by accepting the common stocks previously held by General Electric, to merge the operating companies in a region into a single operating company which would be large enough to have an identity with the investing public (and which might entail interconnections and rationalizations to reduce costs), to refinance these companies by selling bonds, debentures, and preferred stock to the public, and to maintain effective control by retaining a sufficient amount of common stock. The funds raised were then used to pay for improvements and expand the business. Active management of properties was also a part of the strategy Construction, engineering, and

48

The Electricity Jourrtd

operating management were provided for a fee based on gross revenues. The first holding company created by Electric Bond & Share was American Gas & Electric in 1906, followed by American Power & Light Co. in 1909, National Power & Light Co. in 1921, and American & Foreign Power Co. in 1924. At least partly in response to an impending Federal Trade Commission investigation (and partly because their interests had diverged), General Electric spun off Electric Bond & Share in February 1925.9 lectric Bond & Share was to become by far the single largest U.S. investor in foreign electric utilities. The strategy began during the First World War when Electric Bond & Share was approached by the U.S. govemment about the possibility of purchasing electrical properties in Panama. The government was concerned about the war and its possible effects on the Panama Canal and suggested to Electric Bond & Share that it purchase the electric systems in Panama City and Col6n. After a careful study the company purchased the properties in 1917. As a publication of the company stated,

ployment in the United States. Furthermore, it was reasonable to assume that the investment of large amounts of American capital in Latin America would help to maintain a better understanding between the United States and the Latin-American republics? In 1919 the State Department again contacted Electric Bond & Share about obtaining properties

Electric Bond & Share created American G) Foreign Power Co. to carry out foreign ekpansion, citing the need to divers& internationally as well as domestically.

eign Power.l2 By 1923 Bond & Share had invested a relatively modest $17 million in Panama, Guatemala, and Cuba. n 1924 Electric Bond & Share created the American & Foreign Power Co. to serve as a vehicle for further foreign expansion. The first annual report of the company asserted that if domestic diversification was a reasonable strategy, then it made sense to diversify internationally, citing as justification the principle followed by Lloyds for over 200 years.I3Over the next six years American & Foreign Power expanded dramatically, with total assets rising to nearly a billion dollars (roughly $7.6 billion in 1996 dollars).* It acquired properties from national interests, as well as

from Canadian tors, in Ecuador,

and British invesCosta Rica, Chile,

An important consideration whichmadethe projectedventure of Bond & Share seem desirable from the standpoint of broad public policy was the knowledge that the remodeling and expansion of these Latin-American utility plants would lead to the purchase of machinery and equipment in this country (instead of in Europe as had previously been the practice) and materially help to sustain em-

seized from the Germans by the Guatemalan government. A temporary lease was arranged and in 1920 the electric utility was purchased. In 1920 Electric Bond & Share and International General Electric built an electric railway and hydroelectric plant for the state government of Santa Catarina in Brazil, which also was the first of a series of investments in that country** The first Cuban property was acquired in 1922 in Santiago. It was the genesis of the Cuban Electric Co., which, after acquisition of properties in Havana, was to become the largest single holding of American & For-

Argentina, Mexico, and India, and expanded its holdings in Brazil.15 In 1927, ElectricatWorldtook note of these developments: Americas capital surplus is finding an attractive market in the development of public utilities abroad. By the proposed acquisition of a group of utilities in South America, France and Japan, The American & Foreign Power Company moves forward to first place in the control of public utility companies in the foreign field. In 1929, American & Foreign Power moved into China with the purchase of Shanghai Power Co., the oldest and largest electric utility in China, established by foreign investors in 1882. The Shanghai Municipal Council had decided to sell the company and
49

]anuary/February 1997

solicited bids. The Municipal Council had purchased the utility in 1893 and had once previously tried to sell it. American & Foreign Power made the highest of three offers and purchased the company for $32 million (roughly $240 million in 1996 dollars), which made it the largest single American investment in China.7 lectric Bond & Share created other holding companies to purchase minority interests in a variety of foreign utilities. Electric Investors, Inc. (S.Z. Mitchell, President) was organized in 1909 for the purpose of trading, dealing, and underwriting securities. By 1928 it held interests not exceeding six percent in Shawinigan Water & Power (the Canadian power company controlled by J.E. Aldred), British Columbia Power Corp., Toho Electric Power Co. (Japan), Great Consolidated Electric Power Co. (Daido Denryoku Kabushiki Kaisha) of Japan, and the Italian Superpower Corp. Electric Bond & Share maintained a special relationship with American & Foreign Power. It was the only holding company in the system in which it claimed to hold majority ownership. Mitchells biographer, quoting the Securities and Exchange Commission, noted that between 1925 and 1931 Bond and Share realized $288,580,000 from the sale of its own securities and the greater portion was invested in American and Foreign Power.2o When Electric Bond & Share was reorganized on March 13,1929, its investment account increased overnight from $93 million to $493 million.*

The astonishing $400 million write-up was attributed entirely to an increase in the market value of the holdings of American & Foreign Power. ut then the stock market crashed and depression ensued. Whereas the creation of American & Foreign Power occurred rapidly over the period of a few years, its demise was a contracted and often painful process that was not complete until 1976.

During

the

first two years of the

depression American & Foreign Power completed the acquisition of several properties and continued to improve existing properties, investing an additional $24 million in 1932. However, because of exchange rate deterioration in several Latin American countries, dollar denominated revenues began to fall and the company suspended dividend payments, first on common stock, and in 1932 on all classes of preferred stock. By the end of 1938 the cumulative dividendson preferred stock not paid amounted to $189 million [about $1.4 billion in 1996 dollars). In addition, several operating zompaniesdefaulted on their 3onds, the Mexican and Cuban

governments forced electricity rate reductions, and a number of countries instituted exchange controls, making it exceedingly difficult to repatriate funds of any kind. The Annual Report of American & Foreign Power in 1938 lamented that if exchange rates prevailing at the time of major acquisitions had been maintained in 1938 the companys reported dollar earnings would have been nearly twice as high as those actually reported. But this, of course, is one of the main risks of foreign investment. Throughout the 1930s construction expenditure remained at around $5-9 million annually (while production of electric power continued to increase). In 1939 the company was able to make a small dividend payment to holders of preferred stock for the first time since 1931. he company survived the second World War, although it had to write off its Shanghai property in 1941, and the government of Argentina had expropriated several of the companys properties in 1943. After the war a new sense of optimism pervaded the company In 1952 American & Foreign Power was reorganized and its capital structure simplified under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. Expenditure on construction increased to around $40 million annually? In its 1953 Annual Report the company announced its intention to double capacity in Cuba by investing an additional

$130 million, and the President of

50

TheElectricity Journal

the company, WS. Robertson, exuded confidence in the future:

As a pioneer United States enterprise in the foreign investment field, Foreign Power has had to contend with a variety of difficulties and obstacles which were unforeseen by its founders in the days when currencies were firm, exchange was free, and it was taken for granted that legitimate investments were made for profit and were entitled to earn it. Since the early 30s we have had many problems and have learned to live with them. Although those early years were mainly a struggle for survival, the more recent

ments in Mexico. It was proving to be exceedingly difficult to withdraw any funds invested in Latin American countries. In its 1960 Annual Report, a major change of strategy was announced by A&FP President Henry B. Sargent:
As I have had occasion to point out in the past, one of the greatest obstacles to successful private utility operation in Latin America has been the economic instability from which many countries have

PUHCA and became a registered investment company Over the course of the 1960s its properties continued to be sold off and its assets dropped to around $500 million. By 1965 half of the companys total revenues were comprised of interest earned on foreign government obligations. In 1967 Electric Bond & Share and American & Foreign Power formally merged, retaining Ebasco Services as a subsidiary. The following year the name of the company was changed to Ebasco lndustries, a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company ln 1968 Ebasco Industries merged with Boise Cascade, a forest-products firm. Properties continued to be liquidated in the early 197Os, and in 1973 Ebasco Services was sold to Halliburton Company In 1976 Ebasco Services again was sold,

history of Foreign Power has been one of steady growth and expanding service. The Foreign Power system now is close to being a billion dollar enterprise; and it is the largest public utility system in Latin America, where the field for future power development is virtually Iimitless.24 The 1950s generally were good for the company although particular countries, such as Argentina, continued to cause problems, and its properties in India were sold. Largely due to improvements in remaining properties, the total assets of the company rose to over $1.2 billion by 1959.
suffered, combined with the inability of the utilities to obtain increases in service rates to compensate for the added costs of doing business. . . . It is managements belief that Foreign Powers future lies in the conversion of its investments from the utility business to diversified industrial enterprises. . . . It should be clearly understood that where the Companys subsidiaries are permitted to earn a fair return on their utility properties, the subsidiaries will continue to meet their obligations to provide the highest quality of utility services, and expand their facilities to keep pace with the growth of demand. Where they are not permitted to do so, there is no apparent alternative to the sale of the utility properties.25 In 1961 American & Foreign

this time to Enserchz6 (formerly Lone Star Gas Co.), and Boise Cascade liquidated its last remaining Latin American utility property (in Ecuador). These transactions signified the end of American & Foreign Power as a business entity, although Boise Cascade continues to carry some debentures of the company on its books.

guided. ln 1959 the Cuban govemment arbitrarily reduced electricity rates and the following year Fidel Castro expropriated American & Foreign Powers properties, at the time the largest holding in the system. The government of Brazil expropriated one of the comRanys properties and all Mexican properties had to be sold to the government, with the proceeds of the sale limited to invest-

ut the optimism of the 1950s proved to be mis-

III. Lessons Learned The story of American & Foreign Power may contain some lessons for todays utility executives. The company grew spectacularly during the boom of the late 1920s and became a billion dollar company with electric utility holdings around the world. Unlike other foreign utility investors (such as

Power was exempted from

/anuay/Februa y 1997

51

Intercontinents Power), the company survived the depression, although it proved to be a difficult struggle and a financial nightmare. Although there was a period of renewed optimism and increased investment in existing properties in the late 1940s and 195Os, pervasive economic and political problems in the 196Os, especially in Latin America, forced the company to shed (or be shorn of) virtually all of its utility investments. In the end, the investments in foreign electric utilities provided a very poor return on the capital expended.

addition to the normal risks of business, including fluctuating exchange rates, there are unforeseen political risks that can seriously affect rates of return on investment. Regulatory regimes can change dramatically with a change in governments. Utility properties always seem to be ripe for expropriation. Once an investment has been made, it may be difficult or impossible to withdraw if events dont turn out as anticipated.

4. Data in the table are from

WILKINS, THE MATURING TIONAL ENTERPRISE

MIRA

OF MULTINA-

55 (Harvard

Univ.

Press, 1974) and

CLEONA LEWIS, AMER-

INVESTMENT 605 (Brookings Inst., 1938). It is not possible to precisely separate electric utility investments from other types of public utility investments. Electric plants often were operated in conjunction ICAS STAKE IN FOREIGN

with tramways (which declined in importance during the 1920s) and interurban railroads, gas works, ice plants, and waterworks. But the bulk of public utility investment during the 1920s was in electric plants, high-voltage transmission lines, and distribution networks. By 1936 electric and gas utilities comprised 84 percent of total foreign public utility investments.
U.S. DEPT. OF COMMERCE, RECT INVESTMENTS TRIES - 1936,18 AMERICAN DI IN FOREIGN COUN-

peated today Conditions are different now than they were in the late 192Os, but another foreign investment boom in electric utilities appears to be under way. The need for foreign capital in this most capital-intensive of industries is real and the prospects are enticing: China and India alone, with less than 10 percent of todays demand, plan to build what would amount to a quarter of the worlds new capacity If Chinese electrical demand were to grow no faster than the economy over the coming decades, say at 7 percent a year, the country would need to open a medium-sized power station a week by 2000 and one every few days thereafter.7
Endnotes: 1. Edward R. Anthony, Toward a Global

takes of the past will be re-

is not likely that the mis-

(1938).

5. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce identified 119 foreign public utility investments (including transportation in the case of Canada) between 1925 and 1929, versus 21 in the previous five years.
MENT OF COMMERCE, INVESTMENTS IN FOREIGN U.S. DEPARTDIRECT COUNTRIES AMERICAN

1936,47 (1938). Portfolio investment remained important during the 1920s. From 1914 to 1928, $723 million worth of foreign public utility bonds were is-

None of this may happen in the business environment of today, but all of it happened to American & Foreign Power, which has a history at least worth contemplating. n

sued in the United States: 40 percent of the total were of European origin (with German companies being the largest single borrowers at $149 million), 26 percent were Canadian, 18 percent were Latin American, and 14 percent were Japanese. ELEC. WORLD, Oct. 6, 1928, at 710. 6.
ALFRED COWLES 3RD & ASSOCIATES,

Paradigm,

ELEC. PERSPECTIVES,

July-

companies, it is no wonder that they want a piece of the action. But we have been there before and foreign adventures dont always work out as anticipated. In c;?

iven the recognized expertise of American utility

Aug. 1993, at 20. See also Thomas W. Lippman, An Electrifying Opportunity, The Washington Post, April 20,1993, section D, and Power to fhe People, ECONOMIST, June 18,1994. 2.
U.S. DEPT. OF COMMERCE, THE

STOCK INDEXES 68-69,86-87, 96-97 (Principia Press, 1939). , Eugene White also made this point, although he did not distinguish between holdCOMMON

ing companies and operating companies. E. White, The Stock Market Boom

and Crash of 2929 Revisited, J. ECON. SPECTIVES, spring 1990, at 71. 7. For a recent discussion of the merger see W. BERNARD CARLSON,
VATION AS A SOCIAL PROCESS: THOMSON ELIHU

PER-

HISTORICAL

STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES,

Part 2,

867 (1975). 3. Id., at 869.

INNO-

AND THE RISE OF GENERAL

TheElectricitu Toumal

ELECTRIC, 1870-1900,292-301

(Cam-

16.90 ELEC. WORLD

761 (Oct. 8,1927).

18. In 1930 Electric Investors

merged

bridge Univ. Press, 1991). 8. The original portfolio of Electric Bond & Share contained a number of foreign stocks, amounting to some $349,000 or 18 percent of the total value of stocks in the portfolio. As an indication of the risk involved, the total value of all stocks in the portfolio had a combined book value 32 percent below par value. None of the $1.2 million in bonds held by the company were foreign. SIDNEY A. MITCHELL, S.Z.
MITCHELL AND THE ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY

There is no mention of European or Japanese investments in the annual reports of American & Foreign Power, although they are noted, atong with Canadian investments, in Moodys Investors Service reports of 1928, 1929 and 1930. A table presented by Segreto indicates that American & Foreign Power held interests, jointly with the Ziirich-based Elektrobank, in Iberian Electric Corp., Ltd. (Montreal), European Electric Corp. of Canada (Montreal), and British & International Utilities Ltd. In addition Electric Bond & Share held an interest in the Belgian utility holding company, Soci&? Finan-

with Electric Bond & Share. MOODY'S

MANUALOFPUBLICUTILITYSECURITIES

(Moodys

Investors

Service,

1930).

19. Moodys (1930). In 1929,22 percent of the gross revenues of the companies supervised by Electric Bond & Share originated outside the United States. FTC, supra note 9, ~01s. 23,24, at 410. 20. Mitchell,

supra note 8, at 110-11. By

the mid-1940s American & Foreign Power produced 30 percent of the electrical power in Mexico, 15 percent in Brazil, 13 percent in Argentina, 75 percent in Chile, and 90 percent in Cuba. Since there was little foreign direct investment in utilities in the 1930s these numbers probably accurately reflect their position in at the beginning of that decade. SIMONHANSON,ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENTINLATINAMERICA

62-64 (Farrar Straus & Cudahy, 1960). Also see Carlson, id., at 224. 9.
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, CONTROL

OF POWER COMPANIES

xxvi-xxvii

(1927).

Also see Federal Trade Commission,

Utility Corporations. Summary Report of the Federal Trade Commission to the U.S. Senate, No. 72A, 86-87 (1935). (This multi-volume work is one of the main sources of information on investment in foreign electric utilities and will be referred to hereafter as FTC, followed by the volume number.) 10. American & Foreign Power Co., Inc., The Foreign Power System 8 (1953) (published by the company)

315 (Inter-American 1951).

292Affairs Press,

21. The $400 million showed up on the liability side as an increase in surplus. Mitchells obituary claimed that he may at one time have been the wealthiest man in the world; if so, this probably would have been between March and September, Jan. 19, 1944. 22. In December 1931, Electric Bond & Share wrote down the value of its inc&e de Transports et dIndustries Blectriques (Sofina). See Luciano Segreto, Du Made in Germanyau Made in Switzerland: Les sociPtits finanvestments by $400 million. FTC, supra note 9, vol. 66, at 1266,1274. The artificial write-up of utility properties was subsequently considered to be one of the major abuses of the holding companies. FTC, vol. 72A, at 298-301, 845-48. 23. The company sidiaries employed the time. 24. American and its foreign sub31,000 people at 1929. NEW YORK TIMES,

11. Mitchell, supru note 8, at 106-07. 12. Id., at 107-08. 13. Id., at 110. 14. One billion dollars in 1929 was roughly equivalent to $7.6 billion in 1996 dollars (using the CPI as a deflator). But comparing the size of the companys investment to the size of the GNP in 1929 makes the number even more impressive. One billion dollars in 1929 compared to the 1929 GNP would be roughly equivalent to $70 billion today. (That is, $1 billion in 1929 was 0.97% of GNP in 1929. That same proportion of the 1996 GNP-using a very rough estimate, since GNP figures are no longer producedwould be roughly $70 billion, which is more than twice the size, measured by assets, of the Southern Company today.) 15. American & Foreign Power Co., Annual Reports, 1927-31.

cieres suisses pour Zindustrie 6lectrique dans lentre-deux-guerres, BLECTRICITB ET

BLECTRIF~CATIONDANSLEMONDE

360 (Presses Universitaires de France, Monique T&de, ed., 1992). 17. Electric Utility Regulation Board, National Construction Commission, Electric Power Development in China,

& Foreign Power Co.,

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE THIRD WORLD

Annual Report, 1953,6. 25. American & Foreign Power Co.,

POWER CONFERENCE

105-30,

vol.

11 (us-

GPO, 1938). The purchase of the Shanghai property is also discussed

FRANKH.H.

Annual Report, 1960, 4-5. in 26. Interestingly, the acquisition wheel continues to turn, as Enserch is again being acquired, this time by TU Electric for $1.7 billion. 27. Power to the People, THE ECONOMIST, June 18,1994, at 7.

KING,THEHISTORYOFTHE

HONGKONGANDSHANGHAIBANKING CORPORATION

338, vol. III (Cambridge Univ. Press). The bank held a substanof

tial amount of the debentures Shanghai Power.

Janus y/Februa y 1997

53