UGI Utilities has agreed to acquire these businesses for approximately $268 million in cash plus working capital, pursuant to a stock purchase agreement and following the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals. PPL expects the sale to close before the end of 2008.
PPL said that these businesses represented about 1% of its overall earnings from ongoing operations in 2007. The gas utility serves about 76,000 natural gas distribution customers in 35 counties throughout Pennsylvania and a small area of Maryland. It operates about 3,800 miles of pipeline and owns underground gas storage capacity in three separate reservoirs in north-central Pennsylvania.
The propane subsidiary buys propane on a wholesale basis and stores, delivers and sells it to about 33,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia.
William Spence, PPL’s executive vice president and COO, said: These businesses have been operationally and financially successful, but their relative size and earnings contributions limited their strategic value to PPL’s future growth.
