Avangrid to acquire PNM Resources in $4.3B deal
New Mexico woke up Wednesday morning to the jolting news that PNM Resources – the parent firm of Public Service Company of New Mexico – has reached an agreement to be acquired by Connecticut-based utility and renewable energy development company Avangrid for $4.3 billion.
The deal, which the boards of both companies have unanimously approved, could represent a major change in the state’s electricity industry. PNM is the largest electric generation, transmission and distribution utility in New Mexico, serving more than 530,000 customers around the state. Its history dates back more than a century to 1917, when it was originally incorporated as the Albuquerque Gas and Electric Co.
Apart from PNM, parent firm PNMR also owns Texas New Mexico Power, a transmission and distribution utility that delivers electricity to about 260,000 customers in West Texas.
Under the newly announced deal, both utilities would be merged into Avangrid, which will acquire all outstanding stock in PNMR, paying shareholders $50.30 per share in cash. That’s a 19.3% premium over the 30-day average price of PNMR shares as of Tuesday.
Both PNMR and Avangrid are public companies whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
PNMR and its utilities are being acquired by a national and international energy powerhouse. The majority of Avangrid’s stock is owned by Spanish company Iberdrola, S.A., a global mammoth ranked as the world’s third-largest electric company.
