BREAKING: Duke Energy approached with buyout offer, report says
Wall Street Journal says major Charlotte employer turned down offer from Florida's NextEra Energy; Would have been biggest utility merger in history
Good evening! Today is Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, and we’re coming to you with HOT BREAKING NEWS.
Whoa, big news out tonight on one of Charlotte’s largest employers: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Duke Energy was the target of a buyout offer from NextEra Energy, the largest utility company in the U.S.
According to the article, posted tonight on the Journal’s website and available only to Journal subscribers, Duke turned down the offer — which is a huge sigh of relief, for now, for people in Charlotte. It’s better for Charlotte to have Fortune 500 companies and their high-paying headquarters jobs stay here than to have one of its corporate titans combine with a massive utility company headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla.
First move? But once offers start flying around, as they apparently have, you never know what will happen next. It could be the first step toward selling Duke Energy, to NextEra or to another bigger utility, or it could force Duke’s hand to buy a smaller company.
Quoting unnamed sources, the Journal said NextEra is “still interested in pursuing a deal.” The paper added: “There is no guarantee NextEra will do so and if it does, that a deal would result.”
A Duke spokesman told the Ledger tonight by email: “Per our company policy, we don’t comment on rumors or speculation.”
NextEra owns Florida Power & Light and Gulf Power Co.
Duke is the Charlotte’s area’s 10th largest employer, with about 7,700 local workers, according to the Business Journal’s Book of Lists. Duke is Charlotte’s third-largest Fortune 500 company by revenue, with $24.1B.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Reporting intern: David Griffith