Duke Energy has agreed to pay about $4.9 billion to acquire Piedmont Natural Gas, a deal that will add 1 million new customers to the energy company’s base.
Under the terms of the deal, Duke (DUK) agreed to pay $60 in cash for Piedmont (PNY), a 40% premium to Piedmont’s closing stock price on Friday. Duke will also assume about $1.8 billion in Piedmont debt in the deal, which is expected to close by the end of next year.
Of the two, Duke is far larger – serving 7.3 million retail electric customers across six states in the Southeast and Midwest. Revenue totaled $23.9 billion for Duke last year, while Piedmont’s revenue was $1.5 billion from the three states it serves.
Duke has bulked up through acquisitions in recent decades, merging with PanEnergy in 1997 and with Cinergy Corp. in 2006 – retaining the Duke name after both deals were completed. It later spun off its natural gas business to form Spectra Energy (SE) and also bought Progress Energy for $13.7 billion in 2012.
Duke and Piedmont are already partners in a strategic initiative: a $5 billion Atlantic Coast pipeline that will be the first major natural gas pipeline to serve Eastern North Carolina.
