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BUSINESSWednesday 30 March 2016

Louisiana regulators approve Cleco Corporation sale

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — ish Columbia Investment the utility would not seek an PSC Chairman Clyde Hol- fordable Energy, called
Louisiana utility regulators Management Corporation, increase in rates until 2019 loway cast the only vote the result “a gold mine for
have approved the sale John Hancock Financial for a period beginning in against the merger. Macquarie, a land mine for
of energy company Cleco and other infrastructure in- 2020. “I am deeply disappointed ratepayers and the com-
Corp. for $4.9 billion. vestors, according to the Investors also agreed to by today’s outcome and mission,” The Town Talk of
A vote late Monday by the statement. $136 million in rate credits I fear for the long-term Alexandria reported.
Public Service Commission Cleco shareholders had for Cleco’s 287,000 Louisi- consequences for Cleco’s Olagues said in the Cleco
allows the sale to a group approved the sale but it ana customers. captive ratepayers,” Hol- news release that the deal
of investors, Cleco said in needed PSC approval. The company estimated in loway said after the vote, is “unprecedented in its
a statement released Tues- News media reports said its statement that the cred- according to an account protections and commit-
day. the vote was 4-1. PSC its would average about in The Advocate. ments to all of those who
The PSC had rejected the member Foster Campbell $500 per customer. Cleco Opponents said there has depend on us each day.”
sale of the Pineville, Louisi- agreed to consider sup- also sells wholesale power not been enough opportu- As outlined in the Cleco
ana-based utility in Febru- porting the sale if a Cleco in Mississippi. nity for new aspects of the statement, the deal calls
ary. official agreed not to The company said in its deal to be vetted. for the new owners to ac-
The purchasing group is led seek a rate increase. Dar- statement that it will keep Casey DeMoss, CEO of quire all outstanding shares
by Macquarie Infrastruc- ren Olagues, president of its headquarters in Pineville the New Orleans-based of Cleco Corporation for
ture and Real Assets, Brit- Cleco Power, agreed that in central Louisiana. nonprofit Alliance for Af- $55.37 per share.

SoundCloud expands into mainstream with paid streaming plan

RYAN NAKASHIMA Eric Wahlforss, the co-founder and chief technology officer of paid music subscription tion not allowed by Spotify,
AP Business Writer Soundcloud, talks during an interview in Los Angeles. services is already crowd- which depends on having
LOS ANGELES (AP) — ed, led by companies like quality free music to draw
SoundCloud is entering (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) Spotify, with 30 million pay- in prospective paying cus-
paid music streaming, ing subscribers, and Apple, tomers.
hoping to turn its huge adding a subscription plan and with tech investors like which jumped to 10 million Wahlforss said a key sell-
community of cover sing- for consumers, giving them Union Square Ventures and after launching last year. ing point for consumers is
ers, dubstep remixers and ad-free listening and a Kleiner Perkins, will have SoundCloud hopes to dis- the many tracks on Sound-
wannabe stars into a big- whole range of music from a staggering 125 million tinguish itself with its mas- Cloud you won’t find else-
ger source of revenue. mainstream artists that had tracks available when the sive variety and huge audi- where.
Since its launch in 2007, shunned the service be- paid tier, SoundCloud Go, ence of 175 million monthly “You’re going to be able to
the Berlin-based online cause it only gave tracks launches Tuesday. That’s listeners. listen to a Rihanna next to
music service has allowed away for free, including about four times other paid “We’re at the very early an emerging artist, next to
pretty much any audio to top acts like Taylor Swift. services. days of streaming,” said a DJ set, next to a mashup
be uploaded to its cloud — SoundCloud, privately held The fast-growing field of Eric Wahlforss, the co- in the same playlist,” said
from Kanye West outtakes founder and chief technol- Wahlforss. “It’s new for us,
to teenagers singing over ogy officer, in an interview. it’s new for the world.”
canned music. It has slowly “The pie is going to be very For example, on Sound-
introduced tools to earn large over time.” Cloud you can find gems
revenue, introducing paid SoundCloud Go will cost like a John Legend’s cover
services for artists in 2008 $10 a month and offer ad- of the Adele hit, “Rolling
and ad revenue sharing for free offline playback on in the Deep.” Or a 4-min-
invited musicians in 2014. mobile devices. It’ll also al- ute version of “30 Hours,”
But after signing deals low artists to choose wheth- a shortened take of one
with major labels, includ- er to give away tracks for of the songs from Kanye
ing holdout Sony Music free or reserve them for West’s latest album, “The
this month, SoundCloud is paying customers — an op- Life of Pablo.

Open House Amaya CEO takes leave amid investigation

Reduced to Price $245.000
Must Sell Now NEW YORK (AP) — Amaya sponds to the allegations $4.9 billion.

Inc. Chairman and CEO that the government has Amaya transformed its busi-

David Baazov is taking a made against him. He re- ness in the summer of 2014

leave of absence from the mains as a board member. when it bought Oldford

online poker company that The Amaya board ap- Group, parent company of

operates sites such as Pok- pointed Divyesh Gadhia as the Rational Group, which

erStars and Full Tilt as he interim chairman, and Rafi operates PokerStars and

faces insider trading charg- Ashkenazi as interim CEO Full Tilt Poker. Trading ac-

es from Quebec regulators. on Tuesday. tivity surrounding the deal

Aruba Palms Realtors, N.V. invites you to a: Baazov and the Montreal- In February, Baazov and came under scrutiny by
Wine & Cheese Open House! based company have de- a group of investors of- Quebec’s securities regula-
nied the insider trading al- fered to take the online tor in December 2014.
Thursday, March 3, 2016 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. legations. poker company private in “While I am deeply disap-
at: Amaya said Baazov is tak- a $21 per cash offer, which pointed with the AMF’s
ing an indefinite paid leave marked a 40 percent pre- (regulator’s) decision, I
Cunuku Abao 139, behind Elmar Hato to focus on preparing a mium to its share price at am highly confident I will
WE'LL PICK YOU UP! bid for the company and the time. The offer came be found innocent of all
The Shops at Sand. #1 to avoid a distraction for about 18 months after it charges,” Baazov said, in a
the company while he re- acquired PokerStars for statement.
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