NextEra, Dominion To Merge As Demand For Data Center Power Spikes
Two of the country’s largest utility companies have plans to merge as the nationwide data center boom is driving demand for electricity.
NextEra Energy Inc. has agreed to acquire Dominion Energy Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at about $67B, the companies announced Monday. The proposed transaction would translate to an equivalent of $76 per share for Dominion, or a 23% premium of its stock based on Friday’s closing price, Bloomberg reported.
The combination, if approved, would give NextEra a territory stretching from Florida to the Carolinas and Virginia, which remains the nexus of the U.S. data center world. The merger also would create the world’s largest regulated electric utility business that would serve about 10 million utility customers and control 110 gigawatts of power generation across a range of energy sources, according to a press release.
“Scale matters more than ever — not for the sake of size, but because scale translates into capital and operating efficiencies,” NextEra CEO John Ketchum said in the release.
Post-merger, NextEra stockholders would own 74.5% of the new company, while Dominion shareholders would control 25.5%. The two companies agreed to give a $2.25B bill credit to Dominion customers over a two-year period following the merger’s closure, according to the release. NextEra said the combined company is expected to grow its base rate of $138B by 11% through 2032.
NextEra stock was down more than 6% Monday afternoon, while Dominion stock was up more than 8%.
Executives from both companies said the merger is critical for NextEra to reach a scale to buy, build, finance and operate grid power more efficiently as the need for artificial intelligence-driven data center power surges. Data center electricity consumption is expected to double to up to 17% of all U.S. power generation by 2030, Politico reported, citing data from the Electric Power Research Institute. Data centers currently consume about 4.5% of U.S. power.
Future power consumption would be disproportionately higher in the combined company’s prime territory of Virginia, which is expected to use up to 59% of U.S. electricity by 2030, according to the research institute.
Ketchum is expected to serve as chairman and CEO of the combined company, while Dominion CEO Robert Blue would serve as CEO and president of regulated utilities. The 14-member board of directors would include 10 seats from NextEra and four from Dominion, according to the press release.
The transaction is slated to close in the next 12 to 18 months. NextEra tapped Kirkland & Ellis as its legal counsel, with Lazard as its lead financial adviser and Bank of America and Wells Fargo as financial advisers. Dominion used McGuire Woods as legal counsel and Goldman Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities as co-financial advisers in the negotiations.
The combined company would trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NEE and operate dual headquarters in Juno Beach, Florida, and Richmond, Virginia.
