NextEra Energy to Buy Most of Hawaiian Electric for $2.6 Billion

By Lauren Pollock 

NextEra Energy Inc. agreed to acquire most of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. for about $2.6 billion, a deal it said would bring cleaner, renewable energy to Hawaii.

Hawaiian Electric supplies power to about 450,000 customers, or 95% of Hawaii's population, through its electric utilities, and provides an array of banking services through American Savings Bank, which isn't included in the deal. The banking unit will be spun off into a separate publicly traded company.

The offer values Hawaiian at $33.50 a share, including the value of American Savings Bank, which was pegged at about $8 a share, and the payment of a one-time special dividend. It excludes the assumption of about $1.7 billion in debt and marks a 19% premium to Wednesday's close.

NextEra, a Florida-based clean-energy company has multiple subsidiaries, including Florida Power & Light and NextEra Energy Resources. In September, the company withdrew an offer to acquire the shares that the struggling Energy Future Holdings Corp. held in Oncor, a Texas transmissions business. Neither company has said whether NextEra has definitively walked away or is still interested in competing.

In October, it reported its revenue grew 5.9% in the third quarter on customer growth and new contracts.

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