TXU Corp. (NYSE:TXU) is now the popular girl whom everyone wants to take the the prom. Not bad for a stodgy utility company.

The Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings may make a counter offer for the Texas power company which has agreed to be bought out by Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts and Texas Pacific Group in a $32 billion private equity deal, the biggest ever, according to Reuters. The buyout firms are still in early discussions about a potential bid and it may not happen.

As part of the KKR/Texas Pacific deal, TXU has until April 16 to solicit and consider other offers, Reuters said.

Blackstone, Carlyle and Riverstone should get the blessing of the environmental groups that blessed the KKR/Texas Pacific Group bid. That was a PR coup that will help the companies gain leverage with regulators.

Electric utilities generate strong cash flow which private equity firms like. It's only a matter of time until the next deal emerges.

Huaneng Power International (ADS NYSE: HNP) was up yesterday and it is up again this morning. More than 5% in two days. It has been on the rise since we acquired it last summer at $26.35. I have written about this company several times in the last few months and it is one of my seven picks for 2007: Huaneng Power: Get into China for 2007.

In the past I have pointed out that HNP would be a much more advisable investment than Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), which is the current market "darling". This has come to pass and we (my investment company) are up so much that HNP is now one of our top three holdings. As of this moment it is trading at $38.74, a 47% rise. This would have net a 94% annualized return if you had acquired it when I first wrote about it, as it has for me. But there is more. You cannot ignore a stock that pays a dividend currently at 3.3% on top of that kind of return.

The point of my story is not that this was a great pick, or that HNP still has decades of growth ahead of it. The point of my story is that sometimes a stock may rise significantly for the reasons that made you believe in it in the first place. However, when a stock appreciates at the rate that HNP has with no spectacular story, no stock purchase announcement from someone like Buffett, no analyst calls, no spectacular earth shattering contract, it makes you wonder what's going on.

I often wonder what is going on behind the scenes. Is there some foreign intrigue? Is there manipulation? Is there something I should know about but cannot find out? I hate it when that happens.

It could be just the market playing catch-up to where the stock should have been after lingering between $27 and $31 for three years. I believe this is what technical analysts (I'm not a believer in that) call 'building a base.' As deep value investors we bought at what we thought was a very cheap price, allowing for some safety to the down side and lots of room above; and I made my readers aware of it at that time. I wish I had more specific information about what has caused the sudden rise in the stock, but I don't. I do know that I am not a market mover, just a small investor -- but I'm glad I made this one.

Did anyone reading this blog buy HNP in the past six months? What made you invest?

If you want to learn more about my thoughts on HNP click the story above. If you want to see the seven picks read You don't have to be 007 to find the best picks for 2007!

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.