NextEra Energy is set to buy Dominion Energy, creating the world’s largest regulated electric utility by market value.
According to Reuters, NextEra will buy Dominion Energy, opens new tab in an all-stock transaction valued at about $66.8 billion, as US utilities race to meet surging demand from data centers fuelling the artificial intelligence boom.
NextEra is one of the world's largest energy developers and access to Dominion's portfolio would enable it to expand into the PJM Interconnection region and capitalize on opportunities in Virginia, one of the biggest data-center markets in the world.
The Florida-based company said it would exchange 0.8138 of its stock for each outstanding share of Dominion.
As per Reuters calculations, this values Dominion at $75.97 per share, a premium of about 23% to its last close.
As one of the most significant transactions in the US utility industry, the deal contributes to ongoing sector consolidation.
The surge in data-center construction has reversed two decades of flat power demand, unlocking substantial revenue potential and strengthening earnings prospects.
Shares of NextEra fell 2% in premarket trading, while Dominion stock jumped 14.7% following merger report.
It is worth noting that Virginia-based Dominion has nearly 51 gigawatts of contracted data-center capacity and counts Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft , Meta, Equinix, CoreWeave and CyrusOne as its customers.
