Two huge utilities in the U.S. Midwest will unit as Wisconsin Energy on Monday agreed to acquire Integrys Energy Group for the price of $5.7 billion in cash and stock.
The deal is one more of a series of consolidations of utility companies, which have looked to combine over the past few years to find a greater scale.
The terms of Monday’s deal, include Wisconsin Energy paying $18.58 in cash per share and 1.128 of its own shares for each Integrys share.
The combination of the two energy companies will make a new utility that will be called WEC Energy Group and will have customers that total over 4.3 million across Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The deal unites We Energies from Wisconsin Energy with five utilities of Integrys’ including North Shore Gas and Wisconsin Public Service.
The new merged utility would have a 60% share in American Transmission Company, a utility that is transmission only.
Following the closing of the new deal, WEC Energy will be headquartered in Milwaukee, but maintain operating headquarters in Green Bay and Chicago as well.
Gale Klappa, the CEO and chairman at Wisconsin Energy will maintain both of those same roles with the new merged company. Charlie Schrock, Klappa’s counterpart at Integrys, will retire at the close of the deal, which is expected sometime next summer.
Klappa said in a prepared statement that Wisconsin Energy believes the combination of the two companies provides a new and unique opportunity to create a premier regulated utility operation across the Midwest, with competitive prices and superior services for years and years to come.
The financial and operational benefits, added Klappa, for customers, communities to the people employed at the company to company shareholders are achievable, compelling and very clear.
He concluded by saying he believed that the new merger would add to the earnings per share at Wisconsin Energy during the first year following the closing.
