SCANA Corp. and Public Service Co. of North Carolina, Inc.(PSNC) received their merger approval from the SEC yesterday. Theapproval represents the last remaining federal or state approvalneeded to complete the transaction. The companies expect tocomplete the merger today.

The combination will serve 517,000 electric and 760,000 gascustomers in the Carolinas and Georgia and 350,000telecommunications customers throughout the Southeast. Total annualrevenues for the combined company will be about $2 billion andmarket capitalization will be about $6 billion.

The $900 million purchase, first announced in February of last year(see Daily GPI, Feb. 18), gives SCANA amajor presence in North Carolina gas markets that are growing at arate that is double the national average. PSNC, based in Gastonia,sells gas to 340,000 customers in cities such as Raleigh, Durham,Chapel Hill, Concord, Gastonia and locations west of Charlotte. Italso reflects a continuation of SCANA’s strategy to focus on retailmarkets in the Southeast rather than wholesale marketing orexploration and production.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, shareholders of SCANAand PSNC will receive either new shares of SCANA common stock orcash, subject to certain limitations described in the mergeragreement. Shareholders of PSNC will receive consideration valuedat $33/share, a 45% premium to PSNC’s closing price on Feb. 16,1999.

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