Following through on its commitment to return to its core business of energy, Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. announced late Wednesday it has reached “definitive agreement” to sell its communications businesses for a cash payment of $103 million. Black Hills said it expects to record a one-time loss of about 9 cents/share on the sale.

The transaction is subject to state and federal regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed before the end of the second quarter.

Noting that deregulation has not panned out the way many expected in the mid-1990s when convergency of energy and telecommunications was gaining momentum, Black Hills CEO David Emery said utility deregulation is “less likely now, and having brought broadband to Rapid City and the northern Black Hills, we have decided to divest our communications business so that we can focus solely on further developing our core energy businesses.”

Cash proceeds from the sale of the telecom units, Black Hills FiberCom and related units, to PrairieWave Communications, Inc., will be used to either “reduce debt or to redeploy capital in energy projects in the West,” Emery said.

Black Hills will concentrate on its wholesale energy businesses in electricity generation, natural gas, oil and coal, along with energy marketing, and its electric utility operations serving western South Dakota, northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. It recently acquired the natural gas and electricity distribution utility in the Cheyenne, Wyoming area — Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power.

PrairieWave is a broadband communications company providing telephone, cable-TV and Internet services in parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

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