Akron

FirstEnergy of Akron, OH, will acquire New Jersey’s GPU Inc. ina $12 billion deal that will create the sixth largestinvestor-owned electric system in the country with the largestcustomer base in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) powerpool.

Surprise! FirstEnergy of Akron, OH and Morristown, NJ-based GPUInc. formally announced that Monday’s widely circulated and detailedrumors of a merger were indeed true (see Daily GPI, Aug. 8). In meetings yesterday, bothcompanies’ boards of directors unanimously approved the merger underwhich FirstEnergy would acquire all of GPU’s outstanding shares ofcommon stock for about $4.5 billion in cash and common stock.

Wall Street was awash in reports Monday that Akron, OH-basedFirstEnergy Corp. was negotiating to acquire GPU Inc. ofMorristown, NJ, for more than $10 billion in a transaction thatwould create one of the top energy utility companies in the nation.

Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy last week became one of the firstutilities to offer its services through Utility.com, a one-stoputility shopping website. Under an alliance with the web site,FirstEnergy will sell its electricity, gas and energy-relatedservices through Utility.com to customers in Ohio, Delaware andMaryland. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Through an alliance announced yesterday, Akron, OH-basedFirstEnergy became one of the first utilities to offer its servicesthrough Utility.com, a one-stop utility shopping website. Under thearrangement, FirstEnergy will sell its electricity, gas andenergy-related services through Utility.com to customers in Ohio,Delaware and Maryland. Financial terms of the agreement were notdisclosed.

FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron, OH, acquired Belden Energy Services,a subsidiary of Belden & Blake Corp. that sells gas to retailcustomers in Ohio. Belden Energy Services, with 1998 revenues of$44 million, is based in North Canton, OH, and would become part ofFirstEnergy Trading Services. Belden, with annual sales of nearly15 Bcf of gas, has about 600 commercial and industrial customers.