Borrowing loosely from Madonna, "Poor is the company whose merger depends on the permission of another." (Guess what song inspired that line and get a free car wash.) Aiming to become the largest independent power company in the U.S., NRG Energy (you’ve gotta’ love the double homonym of that moniker) swooped in on Calpine with an unsolicited $9.6 billion stock bid. More on the score here.

NRG Energy Inc., seeking to become the largest independent power company in the U.S., made an unsolicited offer to buy Calpine Corp. for $9.6 billion in stock.

The second-biggest power producer in Texas offered 0.534 share for every Calpine share, or 6.7 percent above yesterday's closing prices, the two companies said in separate statements. The valuation is based on the number of outstanding shares.

The takeover would double NRG's capacity in the U.S. to about 45,000 megawatts, enough to power 36 million homes. The Princeton, New Jersey-based company also stands to benefit from Calpine's focus on using cleaner-burning natural gas as lawmakers seek to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. Calpine is the largest U.S. producer of electricity from gas-fired plants.

"Calpine is an almost pure play on gas-fired generation, so their carbon footprint would be attractive," said Gordon Howald, an analyst at Calyon Securities in New York who has a "buy" rating on NRG shares and doesn't own any.

Proposed climate-change legislation sponsored by senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner aims to reduce emissions by 66 percent from 2005 levels by 2050. The Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the measure next month. Carbon dioxide comes from burning fossil fuel and is blamed as the biggest contributor to global warming.

San Jose, California-based Calpine controls more than 23,800 megawatts of generating capacity via interests in 60 gas- fired plants throughout the U.S. and 17 geothermal power plants in California, according to Hoover's Inc.

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