December 2018 No. 73 Vol. 12
Newsline
Aqua America to Acquire Peoples
Aqua America Inc., a regulated water and wastewater utility, will acquire Peoples in an all-cash transaction reflecting an enterprise value of $4.275 billion that includes the assumption of approximately $1.3 billion of debt.
The transaction brings together two companies with more than 130 years of service each and proven track records of operational efficiency, complementary service territories and strong regulatory compliance.
Aqua America is a 132-year-old, regulated water and wastewater utility serving 3 million people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana and Virginia. Aqua’s subsidiaries treat and deliver water through thousands of miles of distribution pipe to customers, and help plan, design and install about 150 miles of distribution pipe every year.
Peoples is a 133-year-old company headquartered in Pittsburgh, providing reliable, low-cost natural gas distribution service to approximately 740,000 customers in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
The combined enterprise will be among the largest publicly traded water utilities and natural gas local distribution companies in the U.S. with a strong growth trajectory. Specifically, the resulting company will:
Serve 1.74 million customer connections — 1 million water utility and more than 740,000 gas utility customer connections – representing approximately 5 million people.
Have approximately $10.8 billion in assets and a projected U.S. regulated rate base of over $7.2 billion, in 2019.
Have operational makeup of greater than 99 percent in regulated utilities. Total rate base is expected to exceed $7.2 billion, with approximately 70 percent in water and wastewater, and 30 percent in natural gas.
Operate regulated utilities over a 10-state footprint, with largest concentration in Pennsylvania, representing more than 77 percent of the company’s total rate base.
When the transaction is completed, combined businesses will be led by Franklin. Corporate and water/wastewater headquarters will remain in Bryn Mawr, Pa. Peoples, the natural gas operating subsidiary, will remain headquartered in Pittsburgh and other operating locations will remain unchanged.
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