George Behrens

George M. Behrens is a career financial executive in the U.S. natural-gas and regulated-utility sector. According to his Luvian Partners biography, he holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater and an M.B.A. in finance from DePaul University. His experience spans regulated and non-regulated energy and utility companies, plus domestic and international transportation and mergers & acquisitions.

From roughly 1991 to 2006 Behrens was a senior executive at Nicor, Inc., the Chicago-area natural-gas distributor (parent of Northern Illinois Gas / Nicor Gas). Over that period he held the roles of Vice President and Controller and later Vice President of Administration and Treasurer, and represented Nicor on selected American Gas Association committees. He resigned from Nicor in June 2006.

In August 2007 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Behrens, along with former Nicor Chairman/CEO Thomas Fisher and former CFO Kathleen Halloran, in connection with an accounting matter tied to Nicor's use of low-cost last-in, first-out (LIFO) natural-gas inventory layers between 1999 and 2002. The SEC alleged the company failed to properly disclose income effects of the LIFO liquidations in its filings. Behrens, then 51, settled the matter, agreeing to a final judgment requiring disgorgement of $87,980 plus prejudgment interest of $64,725.95 (total $152,705.95). This is a matter of public record via the SEC and trade press.

Behrens subsequently served as Chief Financial Officer and board member of Mountaineer Gas Company (West Virginia's largest gas distributor, later acquired by UGI Corporation) and continues as a Special Advisor to its board. Today he is a Director and the Chief Financial Officer of Luvian Partners, Inc., based out of Sarasota, Florida.

• Utility roll-up / acquire-and-operate model, not startup venture. Luvian Partners is a Montana-registered company whose stated objective is "to acquire and operate small and mid-sized local gas distribution companies," run by a team of experienced utility executives.
• Target niche: small and mid-sized regulated utilities "where opportunities exist for enhanced operational performance, cost control, margin growth, and additional capital investment."
• Return profile: the firm states it seeks "returns well above industry averages with stable earnings, cash flow and dividends" — an income-and-operations-improvement thesis rather than a high-growth equity thesis.
• Behrens's role in the thesis: as CFO/finance lead, his contribution is utility finance, treasury, regulatory finance, and M&A execution — the deal-financing and operating-finance side of acquiring regulated gas utilities.
• What makes them say yes: an under-optimized regulated gas distribution asset where a hands-on utility-operator team can improve margins, control costs, and deploy incremental capital.