Behind him was Warren Buffett, the celebrity United States businessman who gladly agreed to buy the chunk for $9.4 billion (£5.1bn). Via a video link, he answered every question with a casual joke, defying the seriousness on Russell's face. The men had convened to discuss the sale and purchase of PacifiCorp, the Portland-based energy business bought by ScottishPower in 1999. It was the group's bold adventure across the Atlantic, but the facts of the journey are not good: despite doubling profits at the firm, PacifiCorp is being sold for less than it was bought for. An impairment charge of £927m tells its own sorry story. The disposal delighted the market, but the resulting share price boost paints a bleak picture of the landmark deal. Yes, investors were partly reacting to news that $4.5bn of proceeds would be paid back to them, but this won't happen for another 12-18 months. There is a lot more to it than a reaction to a hand-out. In fact, the 6.2 per cent jump to 470p was not a compliment from the market but a collective sigh of relief. Traders have been playing down ScottishPower because of its US presence for yonks. It has been an adventure marked by set-backs, from the Californian power crisis to the growth-stifling regulatory environment. With PacifiCorp, the group was more complex and harder to understand. Russell was not in charge when the group paid $10bn for PacifiCorp in 1999, but he refuses to admit the US expansion was a mistake. This despite the facts that he is bowing out at a loss and the group's shares are a third lower now than at their pre-US price of about 640p. He points to a doubling of PacifiCorp's profits, but this undoubted achievement is tainted by a failure to get to the psychologically important $1bn barrier - a level Russell originally promised to trumpet at yesterday's results. Then there is the growth of PPM Energy - the fledgling US division that last year generated operating profit of £59m. It's a good business, but it is small and now isolated, and may also be sold further down the line. Russell's repeated attempts to add PPM's value onto the justification of owning PacifiCorp is a step too far. One issue on which he can genuinely feel hard done by is the Californian crisis, which knocked the group to the canvas in September 2001. It meant a £1bn overall loss the following year, and Buffett himself offered sympathy during yesterday's presentation. Crucially, the disaster put an end to US moves to liberalise its power market - one of ScottishPower's key reasons for buying PacifiCorp in the first place. But that, as they say, is history. What is undeniable is that the sale of PacifiCorp transforms ScottishPower for ever. It will cut its value by two-thirds to just over £3bn, down from £8.24bn at present. Strategically, it also changes everything. It focuses the firm almost entirely on the UK - an ultra-competitive market where it is some way off the leaders. In terms of retail, ScottishPower ranks fifth in the UK at 5.1 million customers - even after an impressive 20 per cent boost over the past year. Its distribution is third - and despite an intended £1.7bn injection is unlikely to trouble the two leaders, E.ON and EDF. All this points to a potential takeover battle - another reason why the shares were up by so much yesterday. Naturally, this revives talk of an all-Scottish merger with Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) - its hated rival from down the A9. The Perth company has been fending off rumours that it fancies a tie-up for some time, and chief executive Ian Marchant dismissed the possibility once again at his own results presentation last week. The regulators have also been a problem in the past, as they were never likely to approve a deal. But that was before yesterday's disposal. SSE now dwarfs its neighbour, and may want to bulk up further. It has shown great ambition in the UK in the past two years, making a string of acquisitions and delighting shareholders. As if to show ScottishPower what happens if you stay in the UK, its shares continue to hit highs. When the PacifiCorp deal was announced at the end of 1998, shares in the two groups were about equal at 670p. Now they are poles apart, with SSE at 960p. E.ON is another name being bandied about, as it strives to make the top spot in the UK generation business. But neither potential suitor needs to worry in the near term, as the PacifiCorp sale will take some 12-18 months to go through. ScottishPower faces a new chapter, and it is one fraught with uncertainty. PIN//Scotsman