In a deal valued at $1.7 billion, Eversource Energy plans to buy Bridgeport-based Aquarion Water co., the region’s largest private water utility, from Macquarie Infrastructure Partners.
Eversource said Friday that it would pay $880 million in cash and assume $795 million of Aquarion’s debt. The deal would add more than 300 employees to Eversource’s 8,000-person workforce across Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as approximately 230,000 additional customers in those three states.
Eversource has 3.7 million electric and natural gas accounts across that territory. If the deal receives the necessary state and federal approvals, including from the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, it is expected to close by year’s end.
