After closing the acquisition of one of West Virginia’s largest local natural gas distribution companies (LDC) from Dominion Energy Inc., Hearthstone Holdings Inc. is headed to the Mountain State.

hope

Hearthstone and Dominion disclosed Thursday the companies had closed the sale of Hope Gas Inc., which does business as Dominion Energy West Virginia, to Hearthstone for around $690 million. As a part of the agreement, Hearthstone will move the headquarters of its Illinois-based utility subsidiary to Morgantown, WV, according to the company.

Hearthstone, a portfolio company of Ullico Inc.’s infrastructure fund, owns and operates natural gas LDCs in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Maine and Montana and water and wastewater utilities in Arizona and Michigan.

Ullico’s Rohit Syal, head of acquisitions for the firm’s infrastructure fund, called Hope Gas “a transformative addition for Hearthstone” that would provide growth opportunities and safety enhancements for its system.

Hope Gas, based in Clarksburg, WV, supplies gas for around 111,000 West Virginian utility customers through 3,200 miles of distribution pipelines and more than 2,000 miles of gathering lines. After the sale, Dominion Energy will continue to own and operate the Mt. Storm Power Station in Mt. Storm, WV.

Hope Gas became a part of Dominion after a merger in 2000. Virginia-based Dominion serves seven million customers in 15 states through its regional and local subsidiaries.

[What’s keeping energy execs up at night? Join a team of NGI editors as they break-down the main themes from CERAWeek, giving you insight into what leading energy professionals are focusing on in this episode of NGI’s Hub & Flow podcast. Listen now.]

In recent years, Dominion has placed heavy focus on diversifying its portfolio of natural gas assets and coal-fired power generation with investments in renewables. In 2010, it sold its natural gas and oil exploration and production business, including a sizable acreage position in the Marcellus Shale. Dominion has now committed to net zero emissions by 2050 and has been bankrolling renewable natural gas and offshore wind projects.