AES Completes $3 Billion Acquisition of Drax; Largest Non-Recourse Power Financing in the United Kingdom.

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30, 1999--

The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) announced today that a subsidiary has completed the acquisition of the Drax power station from National Power.

The AES subsidiary entered into a definitive agreement in August 1999 to acquire the Drax station for approximately $3 billion in cash. The Drax station is a 3960MW coal-fired power station complete with flue gas desulfurization located in Yorkshire, North England. It is the largest coal-fired plant in Western Europe and generates approximately 8 percent of the electricity in England and Wales.

An AES subsidiary acquired all the shares of a special purpose company, National Power Drax Limited, into which the assets of the station had been transferred. The purchase price was financed by a mixture of non-recourse senior bank lending, subordinated bridge lending, and equity provided by AES. Total leverage is over 80 percent. The bridge loan is to be refinanced early next year.

Michael Armstrong, Group Manager, AES Electric, stated, "We are delighted to have completed this acquisition. This has been the largest power financing in the London market and recognition must go to the lead arranging banks: Chase, Deutsche and IBJ. We also look forward to completing a high yield bond issue in the new year to take out the bridge loan provided by Goldman Sachs and DLJ."

Dennis W. Bakke, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This acquisition is a major step for AES. Our transition team lead by Dave McMillen is already working hard at the plant applying AES 's global experience with clean-coal technology. We expect Drax and its people to be a very special addition to our company."

Business development milestones in 1999 include the following:

-- In October, AES won a bid to purchase a controlling interest in

Tiete, a generating company in Brazil for approximately $486

million.

-- In October, a subsidiary of AES completed the acquisition of

CILCORP, Inc.,

-- In August, AES was selected by the Government of Orissa State in

India to acquire 95% of the equity in the holding company of the

Central Electricity Supply Company of Orissa Limited (CESCO).

-- In August, AES formed a new subsidiary called Power Direct to

compete for electricity and natural gas retail customers in the

United States markets.

-- In August, AES announced that a subsidiary has reached agreement

with National Power for the acquisition of the Drax Power Station

for (pound)1.875 billion (approximately $3 billion).

-- In August, AES announced that it has won a bid to acquire a

controlling 51% interest in Eletronet in Brazil.

-- In August, AES announced that it has completed the acquisition of

50% of the Empresa Distribuidora de Electricidad del Este, S.A.,

the distribution company providing electricity to approximately

400,000 users in the eastern portion of the Dominican Republic.

-- In July, AES announced that it has completed its acquisition of

NewEnergy by acquiring all of the outstanding shares of

NewEnergy.

-- In June, a subsidiary of AES has completed a $448 million

financing for its 826 MW (net) natural gas-fired combined cycle

power plant in San Nicolas, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

-- In June, a subsidiary of AES has completed a $308.5 million

non-recourse bond financing for the construction of a 705 MW

natural gas-fired combined cycle plant to be located in South

Lebanon Township, Pennsylvania.

-- In June, AES announced that it has assumed management control of

two regional electric distribution companies (REC's) in

Kazakhstan.

-- In May, a subsidiary of AES has completed a (pound)122 million

(approximately $195 million) non-recourse project refinancing for

its 230 MW gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Barry, South

Wales, United Kingdom.

-- In May, a subsidiary of AES agreed to acquire subscription rights

from Eletrobas Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras, S.A., which will

allow it to purchase additional shares in Light Servicos de

Eletricidade S.A. ("Light") and Eletropaulo S.A.

-- In May, a subsidiary of AES completed the purchase of two Ecogen

Energy power plants from the government of Victoria, Australia

for approximately $227 million.

-- In May, a subsidiary of AES completed the financing for a 393 MW

coal-fired plant, AES Fifoots Point, in South Wales, United

Kingdom.

-- In May, AES completed the financing of six power plants it

purchased in New York from NGE Generation, Incorporated ("NGE")

for approximately $953 million.

-- In April, AES Thames reached agreement to a partial prepayment of

future electricity sales with Connecticut Light & Power Company

(CL&P).

-- In February, a subsidiary of AES was selected by the Hungarian

utility, the MVM, to build, own and operate a 190 MW gas-fired

combined cycle power plant, AES Phoenix, in eastern Hungary.

-- In February, a subsidiary of AES executed a Power Purchase

Agreement ("PPA") with Williams Energy Marketing and Trading

Company, a subsidiary of The Williams Company, Inc., for the

entire output of the planned 700 MW AES Ironwood power generating

facility.

AES is a leading global power company comprised of competitive generation, distribution and retail supply businesses in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Georgia, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The company's generating assets include interests in one hundred and eleven facilities totaling over 36 gigawatts of capacity. AES' electricity distribution network has over 940,000 km of conductor and associated rights of way. In addition, through its various retail electricity supply businesses, the company sells over 110,000 gigawatt hours per year to over 14 million end-use customers.

AES is dedicated to providing electricity worldwide in a socially responsible way.

For more general information visit our web site at www.aesc.com or contact investor relations at [e-mail]. The list aes-pr-announce is an automated mailing list and can be found on the investing page of our web site. Those who subscribe to this list will receive updates when AES issues a press release.