Duke’s $4.9-billion purchase of Piedmont closes, merging utilities with gas distributor

摘要

Duke Energy’s $4.9-billion takeover of Piedmont Natural Gas closed October 3 after being cleared by North Carolina regulators, the deal’s final hurdle, bringing together an owner of utilities and a distributor of power plant fuel in a deal that they anticipate will allow the combined company to cut costs and more efficiently serve the market. Slowing US electricity demand growth and cheap prices have spurred traditional utilities to expand into gas infrastructure, through mergers and building pipelines, in search of stable cash flows and easier access to one of the key fuels used in power generation. The North Carolina commission’s decision last week marked the final regulatory approval needed to complete the Duke-Piedmont transaction.