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business/news//Bloomberg
NextEra Energy Inc. announced its $118 billion acquisition of Dominion Energy.
NextEra Energy announced a $118 billion acquisition of Dominion Energy.
KEY POINTS
The combined company will become the world's largest publicly listed utility by far.
NextEra focused on customer payouts and job guarantees rather than traditional cost-saving synergies.
State regulatory approval is essential, given heightened scrutiny over electricity bills and utility mergers.
Utilities are odd beasts, being regulated monopolies dressed up as competitive enterprises. That oddness extends to when they buy each other. Hence, in announcing NextEra Energy Inc. ’s $118 billion acquisition of Dominion Energy Inc. , which cements it as the largest listed utility in the world by far, the word “synergies” doesn’t appear at all. Instead, NextEra led with pledged payouts to Dominion’s customers and guarantees for jobs and local offices. That’s because utility deals don’t just get pitched to investors but also to the state regulators that must approve them — and perhaps never more so than now, amid a growing backlash around electricity bills.
Make no mistake, though; NextEra stands to reap a lot if it gets its hands on Dominion.