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Westar Energy Inc. and Great Plains Energy Inc. agreed to a stock-for-stock merger of equals to create a new holding company with a combined equity value of approximately $14 billion, the companies announced July 10.
Under the terms of the revised merger deal, Westar shareholders will get 1 new share in the new entity for each share they own, while Great Plains Energy shareholders will get 0.5981 share in the new company for each share. The revised deal involves no premium paid or received with respect to either company, no transaction debt and no exchange of cash.
At closing, Westar shareholders will own approximately 52.5% and Great Plains shareholders will own approximately 47.5% of the combined company, which will serve approximately 1 million electric customers in Kansas and nearly 600,000 customers in Missouri.
The companies amended the transaction after Kansas regulators on April 19 rejected their earlier merger application, finding that the deal was too risky and not in the public interest. But Great Plains and Westar refused to give up, announcing May 4 that they had filed a petition for reconsideration seeking additional time, until May 31, to possibly negotiate a revised transaction. The Kansas Corporation Commission on May 23 rejected Great Plains Energy's request for reconsideration of the commission's order rejecting the company's proposed transaction, a move that prompted the two companies to extend the completion date of their merger by six months, to...