KANSAS CITY, Mo. -
Shareholders of Great Plains Energy on Wednesday voted in favor of
the company's proposed acquisition of Aquila Inc.'s electric
operations in Missouri. The vote, along with Aquila's shareholder
approval on Tuesday, paves the way for a side deal to sell some of
its operations to Rapid City-based Black Hills Corp.
In the two-step
deal announced in February, Aquila will sell its electric utility
in Missouri to Great Plains Energy. And Black Hills Corp. will buy
its natural gas operations in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa
and its Colorado electric utility for about $940 million in
cash.
The deal still
requires approval from federal and state regulators and is
scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2008.
"We are very
pleased that shareholders of both Aquila and Great Plains Energy
approved the pending deal," said David R. Emery, chairman,
president and chief executive officer of Black Hills Corp. "With
these milestones accomplished, we are making good progress with our
plans to acquire the gas and electric operations from Aquila. We
are continuing our efforts to receive the remaining state and
federal regulatory approvals so that the transaction can close in
the first quarter of 2008."
The new utilities
will expand Black Hills' customer base by nearly five-fold. The
acquisition will add about 616,000 new utility customers (93,000 at
the electric utility and 523,000 gas customers) to the company's
service territory.
The Rapid
City-based company now serves about 137,000 utility customers in
South Dakota and Wyoming.
Great Plains
spokesman Matt Tidwell said 96 percent of shareholders who voted
approved the Kansas City-based utility issuing common stock in
connection with the purchase, valued at $1.6 billion.
According to the
terms of the Great Plains acquisition, Aquila shareholders will
receive about $4.35 in cash and Great Plains stock for each share,
based on Great Plains' closing price Tuesday of $29.84 per share.
Great Plains shares fell 21 cents to close at $29.63 on Wednesday,
while Aquila shares rose 2 cents to close at $4.13.
Black Hills Corp.,
meanwhile, was down 24 cents to $43.13 per share.
