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>>> Utilities New Jersey Resources, South Jersey Industries Hold Merger Talks

Rising revenue has fueled takeover interest in natural-gas producers


By Dana Mattioli and Dana Cimilluca

April 4, 2017


https://www.wsj.com/articles/utilities-new-jersey-resources-south-jersey-industries-hold-merger-talks-1491322741


New Jersey Resources Corp. NJR -0.33% is considering a combination with South Jersey Industries Inc., SJI 0.15% a deal that would bring together two natural-gas utilities in the state, according to people familiar with the matter.

Details of the talks couldn’t be learned and it is possible that there won’t be a deal. As of Tuesday morning, New Jersey Resources had a market value of $3.4 billion. South Jersey Industries was valued at $2.8 billion.

New Jersey Resources, based in Wall, N.J., provides natural gas and other services to homes and businesses from the Gulf Coast to Canada, according to its website. It is the parent company of New Jersey Natural Gas, which serves more than 486,000 customers in Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Morris and Burlington counties. New Jersey Resources also operates a 6,700 mile natural-gas transportation and distribution network serving almost 500,000 customers, according to the website.

South Jersey Industries, based in Folsom, N.J., traces its roots back more than 100 years to two Atlantic City gas companies. It provides natural gas to about 377,000 customers in the southern part of the state, according to the company’s website.

Rising revenue has fueled takeover interest in natural-gas producers and there has been a flurry of deal making over the past year. In January, Canada’s AltaGas Ltd. agreed to buy WGL Holdings Inc., Washington, D.C.’s natural-gas utility. NextEra Energy Inc. has agreed to buy bankrupt Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s Oncor electricity-transmission unit, one of the largest such businesses in the country, but Texas regulators have moved to block the deal.

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