Black Hills merging with NorthWestern Energy
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Black Hills Corp. announced a merger on Tuesday with NorthWestern Energy.
The combined company will be worth $15.4 billion, based on each company’s closing stock price on Monday, and have about 2.1 million customers.
It will provide natural gas and electricity in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Officials said the merger will double each company’s rate base to about $11.4 billion.
From 2025 to 2029, the two companies plan to invest more than $7 billion in new electric and natural gas infrastructure.
And they said that amount will likely increase once the companies combine.
Black Hills said customers would benefit from process improvements and shared systems.
“We are excited to bring our two highly complementary companies together to create significant long-term value for customers, employees, shareholders, and the communities we serve,” President Linn Evans said in a press release. “Our future success will be driven equally by the people, assets, and capabilities of both organizations. The combined company will have greater scale and financial strength to consistently deliver for customers across our service territories and invest at the pace and scale that today’s energy transformation demands.”
Evans will retire at the close of the sale, and Northwestern CEO Brian Bird will lead the combined company, which will be based in Rapid City, South Dakota.
The companies are expected to keep using their respective names, so Nebraskans will still see Black Hills Energy on their gas bills.
The deal will take 12 to 15 months to go through. It will require approval from several agencies, including the Nebraska Public Service Commission.
