Big shareholder backs NRG opposition to Exelon bid

SAN FRANCISCO Feb 3 (Reuters) - Holders of 6 percent of NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N) have thrown their weight behind the U.S. power producer's refusal to accept an all-share bid from power company Exelon Corp (EXC.N), according to a filing on Tuesday.

Solus Alternative Asset Management LP, a New York-based investment adviser to two funds holding 6 percent of NRG's stock, said it agreed with NRG's board that the Exelon offer in its current form was "highly conditional and undervalues NRG."

Exelon has extended to Feb. 25 its offer to buy NRG shares at a fixed price of 0.485 shares of Exelon for each NRG share -- worth $6.2 billion when it was launched in October.

Solus rejected Exelon's assertion that the tendering of 45.6 percent of NRG shares under the offer as of early January was a sign of support for the deal.

"We understand that a significant number of NRG stockholders also have substantial holdings of Exelon -- a matter not mentioned in Exelon's release," Solus wrote in a letter to NRG's chairman dated Jan. 29 and made public on Tuesday in a regulatory filing.

Chicago-based Exelon, which nominated a slate of directors for NRG's board last week, has said that NRG is focused on "market discovery" about other options from companies that had expressed interest in buying it.

Shares of Exelon, the largest U.S. nuclear power plant owner, closed 2.7 percent higher at $56.77 on Tuesday, while shares of Princeton, New Jersey-based NRG rose 4.8 percent to $24.32. (Reporting by Braden Reddall; editing by Richard Chang)