NWEC Northwestern (MM)

Transaction is immediately accretive to earnings SIOUX FALLS, S.D., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NorthWestern Corporation d/b/a NorthWestern Energy (NASDAQ:NWEC) has completed the purchase from SGE, a subsidiary of General Electric Capital Corporation, of SGE's Owner Participant interest representing approximately 143 MW of the Company's 222 MW leased interest in the 740 MW Colstrip Unit 4 coal-fired steam electric generation unit (the "Facility") located near Colstrip, Mont. The purchase price was approximately $133.4 million, or approximately $933/Kw. NorthWestern paid $100.2 million in cash and will consolidate $33.2 million in outstanding lease debt. The outstanding lease debt will be fully amortized by the end of 2010. NorthWestern funded the transaction with available liquidity; and a newly formed subsidiary, Colstrip Lease Holdings LLC, is currently finalizing a $100 million non-recourse loan to support this purchase. The loan is expected to close in the next 30 days. Accretion to earnings is expected to be approximately $.6 million in 2008, $1.8 million in 2009, $3.6 million in 2010 and $4.8 million thereafter. WestLB acted as NorthWestern's advisor for this purchase and for the purchase of Mellon Leasing's 79 MW Owner Participant interest in Colstrip Unit 4 on March 13, 2007. About NorthWestern Energy NorthWestern Energy is one of the largest providers of electricity and natural gas in the Upper Midwest and Northwest, serving more than 640,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. More information on NorthWestern Energy is available on the Company's Web site at http://www.northwesternenergy.com/. DATASOURCE: NorthWestern Energy CONTACT: Media, Claudia Rapkoch, 1-866-622-8081, , or Investor Relations, Dan Rausch, +1-605-978-2902, , both of NorthWestern Energy Web site: http://www.northwesternenergy.com/

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