![Enbridge Closes $4.3B Deal for NatGas Utility Questar Gas](/sites/default/files/styles/hart_news_article_image_640/public/image/2024/06/enbridge-closes-43b-deal-natgas-utility-questar-gas.jpg?itok=vbn6x7wQ)
Following the closing of its deal for Questar Gas Co., Canadian midstream company Enbridge Inc. is nearing the full completion of its acquisition of three U.S. gas utilities. (Source: Shutterstock.com)
Questar Gas Co., a natural gas utility with operations in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, has officially changed ownership to Enbridge (ENB), the Canadian company announced in a June 3 press release.
According to Questar’s former owner Dominion Energy, Enbridge closed the deal for about $4.3 billion, including a $1.3 billion payment for the utility’s debt. The deal included Wexpro Co., which supplies natural gas directly to Questar.
The closing of the deal for Questar Gas is the second step in closing three transactions valued at $14 billion. Enbridge announced the deals with Dominion in September 2023. With the acquisitions, Enbridge, already one of the largest midstream companies in North America, is poised to become the largest gas utility on the continent.
In March, Enbridge closed the first of its utility deals — a $6.6 billion purchase of Dominion’s East Ohio Gas Co., which is now Enbridge Gas Ohio (EOG). EOG serves 1.2 million Ohio customers.
Questar Gas Co. will now operate under the names of Enbridge Gas Utah, Enbridge Gas Wyoming and Enbridge Gas Idaho. The utility also serves about 1.2 million customers through more than 21,000 miles of distribution pipelines, an LNG storage facility and multiple connections to interstate natural gas transport lines.
"We are excited to welcome another strong gas utility to Enbridge. Questar Gas and Wexpro enhance the scale and breadth of our existing low-risk utility business model and support our long-term dividend growth profile by providing stable, predictable cash flows," Michele Harradence, Enbridge’s president of gas distribution and storage, said in the release.
Under Enbridge, Questar and Wexpro are expected to provide about 80% of the annualized EBITDA the company expects to make from the Dominion acquisitions, according to ENB.
Enbridge anticipates closing on the third utility deal for Public Service Co. of North Carolina (PSNC) by the end of 2024, following required regulatory approvals for the purchase.
Overall, the purchase of the Dominion companies doubles the scale of Enbridge’s gas utility business to approximately 22% of ENB’s total adjusted EBITDA, the company said when the deal was announced last year. Enbridge’s asset will also balance out evenly between natural gas, renewables and liquids.
In May, Enbridge announced that it listed Canadian and U.S. securities filings to enable a $2.01 billion at-the-market (ATM) equity issuance program. The filing gave ENB “additional flexibility” to pay for the utility acquisitions, Enbridge said in a statement at the time of the filing.
The ATM allowed the company to sell common shares to the public as needed through the Toronto and New York stock exchanges, or others. Enbridge noted that it has a variety of options to fund the original deal, which includes $9.4 billion in cash and $4.6 billion in assumed debt.
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