New Haven utility company UIL Holdings will offer $470 million worth of stock to finance its acquisition of three natural gas utility companies in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The registered public offering covers 17.7 million shares of common, and the company expects to grant its underwriters an additional option of 2.7 million common shares.
UIL’s stock traded early Tuesday at $26.70 per share.
UIL Holdings, the parent of electric utility United Illuminating, intends to acquire Southern Connecticut Gas Co., Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. and Berkshire Gas Co. from Spanish energy giant Iberdrola SA. The proposed purchase price is $1.3 billion.
Announced last May, the acquisitions to be completed in the first quarter of 2011 will more than double UIL’s customer base from 324,000 to 694,000.
Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are acting as book-running managers of the registered public offer offering.
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