By: jackie.sauter

Constellation Energy Group’s shareholders may have thought they were getting a raw deal with the offer of $26.50 a share from MidAmerican Energy Holdings, but things haven’t been looking up since that deal went south about two weeks ago.

Shareholders seemed hell bent on getting more out of their stock — several filed lawsuits against Constellation, and there were rumblings that they might not approve the merger deal at a planned Dec. 23 shareholder vote — but it doesn’t seem like they’ll be getting much more in the near term.

One day after Constellation announced it was rejecting the MidAmerican takeover bid in favor of a nuclear partnership with Electricite de France, the Baltimore-based firm’s share price fell to $23.97, and has since lingered in the $24 to $25 range.

In the days leading up to Constellation’s split with MidAmerican, the stock climbed above $28 in anticipation of the break up, and hit $30.15 on the day of the announcement.

Paul Justice, an analyst with Morningstar Inc. in Chicago, told me it’s hard to compare the share price between then and now.

“You’ve extended the time horizon and basically made this a stock that’s going to sit on the market; before you had a time frame for an end date,” he said. “To reflect back on the trials and tribulations of 2008, you’re probably looking two or three years out to determine how well this worked out for Constellation,” he added.

If it takes that long to see this deal bear fruit, imagine how long it could take for investors to make their money back. I wonder if they’ll wait around long enough to find out.

DANIELLE ULMAN, Business Writer