Mexico power plant purchases touted as ‘new nationalization’

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has announced a deal to buy 13 of the power plants operated by the Spanish company Iberdrola in the country for an estimated $5.94 billion. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador calls it a “new nationalization” of the Mexican electericity sector. He said Tuesday that the deal represents will give Mexico’s state-owned power company a 55.5% share of the country’s electricity market. The utility currently produces just under 40% of Mexico’s electricity. López Obrador has long admired former President Adolfo López Mateos, who nationalized Mexico’s electrical industry in 1960.