Unitil plans to buy Bangor Natural Gas Co. for $70.9M
Photo / Courtesy Unitil
Unitil’s work in Portland is part of its ongoing cast iron replacement project, set to conclude this year.
Unitil Corp. (NYSE: UTL), a New Hampshire-based utility that provides services in some parts of Maine, plans to buy Bangor Natural Gas Co. for $70.9 million, pending regulatory approval.
In a note to Bangor Natural Gas customers, Unitil said the Maine Public Utilities Commission might take six months or longer to review the deal, with a possible decision early next year. Unitil expects the transaction to close by the end of the first quarter.
Currently, Unitil’s natural gas distribution system is the largest in Maine, serving about 33,000 customers from Kittery to Auburn. Bangor Natural Gas serves 8,000 customers in Greater Bangor.
“Bangor Natural Gas Co. is a great complement to our current natural gas distribution operations in Maine,” said Thomas Meissner Jr., Unitil’s chair and CEO.
Bangor Natural Gas started operations in 1998, and soon constructed a piping system that connects Bangor-area customers to pipelines in the Canadian Maritimes and the northeastern U.S. Today, as a subsidiary of West Virginia-based Hope Utilities Inc., the company owns and operates 351 miles of gas distribution pipelines and 9 miles of transmission pipelines.
Unitil is a public utility holding company with operations in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Together, Unitil’s subsidiaries serve 108,500 electricity customers and 88,400 natural gas customers.
Headquartered in Hampton, N.H., Unitil has its primary Maine office at 376 Riverside Industrial Parkway in Portland.
The company operates an 85-mile interstate high-pressure natural gas pipeline and 1,100-mile distribution system in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
Unitil said the deal is predicated on retaining the Bangor Natural Gas management team and other employees, as well as existing customers.
Unitil plans to finance this transaction with a balanced mix of equity and debt, and has obtained committed debt financing from Scotiabank in New Brunswick to fund the purchase price.
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