Dominion Energy to buy Scana Corp in $14.6 billion deal

[January 03, 2018]  (Reuters) - Dominion Energy Inc said on Wednesday it would buy troubled utility Scana Corp in an all-stock deal worth about $14.6 billion, including debt.

Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Virginia. Courtesy Dominion Power/via REUTERS

Scana shareholders will receive 0.6690 shares of Dominion Energy for each share held, or the equivalent of about $55.35.

The offer represents a premium of 42.4 percent to Scana's Tuesday closing price of $38.87.

Scana's shares were up 24 percent in premarket trading.

Virginia-based Dominion said it would pay Scana's South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) subsidiary customers $1.3 billion within 90 days of the deal's closure.

SCE&G, Scana's main subsidiary, had said in November it will cut electricity rates to placate customers who unknowingly bore costs tied to an abandoned nuclear project.

Dominion will also write off more than $1.7 billion of existing capital and regulatory assets related to the abandoned nuclear plants, the company said.

The deal is expected to close this year, the companies said.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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