Xcel settles lawsuit with investors, plan participants

Xcel Energy Inc., Minneapolis, settled lawsuits brought on behalf of investors and participants in the company's $1 billion 401(k) plan and its $280 million employee stock ownership plan, said Ed Legge, spokesman for Xcel. The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, claimed that Xcel misled investors about the company's relationship with former subsidiary NRG Energy Inc. in 2001 and 2002, and that NRG's business problems caused Xcel's stock price to fall, hurting investors. Terms of the settlement call for investors and plan participants to get a total of $70.5 million from Xcel's insurance carriers and $17.5 million from Xcel. The exact division of the money has not yet been calculated. Xcel did not admit to any wrongdoing.