Montana Could Have Been Severely Impacted by Bankruptcy of Australian Company, Babcock & Brown Ltd., that Tried to Buy NorthWestern Energy

Have you heard: Powerful meltdown Down Under could have hit Montana

Have you heard

Two years ago, Montana regulators twice said "no" to an affiliate of an Australian investment bank’s attempts to buy NorthWestern Energy.

If the sale had succeeded, Montana utility customers and perhaps the state’s taxpayers may have been entangled in an international bankruptcy.

Two weeks ago, Babcock & Brown Ltd., an Australian bank, was pushed into "voluntary administration," the Aussie version of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. B&B told a group of New Zealand investors it was in financial trouble and asked them to accept just $1 for every $1,000 they had invested.

By JAN FALSTAD

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/03/29/news/business/30-haveyouheard.txt