NRG Energy, a large American energy company, is set to acquire Powerton Station, a 1,538 MW electric generation plant in Tazewell County, Illinois, and Units 7-8 of the Joliet Station, a 1,044 MW electric generation plant located in Will County, Illinois, for $257m. The plants are currently subject to a sale-leaseback arrangement whereby NRG leases and operates the facilities from the sellers under the Purchase Agreements. "As a lessor, we have kept those assets in compliance with environmental regulations through back-end control investments and, in the case of Joliet, by converting units from coal to natural gas. By purchasing these assets, we're able to eliminate the lease obligations, which are treated as debt for ratings purposes, thereby streamlining our balance sheet. Moreover, as owners rather than lessors, we have a greater operational and strategic flexibility, thus providing us a greater range of alternatives to optimize their benefits to NRG going forward," Kirkland Andrews, NRG Energy Executive Vice President and CFO.