The Midwest utility landscape should expect radical changessoon, as two major mergers have cleared all regulatory approvalsand are closing in on completion.

In a move that will add one of the major utilities in theIowa-Illinois area to the private sector, an investor groupincluding Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and MidAmerican Energy CEO DavidSokol received the final regulatory approval of their MidAmericanEnergy purchase, as the Iowa Utilities Board issued a writtenconsent late last week.

The $9 billion transaction, which was first announced lastOctober, is expected to close today.

Once complete, MidAmerican will become a privately-owned companywith publicly traded fixed-income securities. Company headquarterswill continue to be in Des Moines, IA, with the office of thechairman and CEO remaining in Omaha, NE, to focus on strategicplanning, mergers and acquisitions and global development.

Rob Hillesand, information specialist with the Iowa UtilitiesBoard, said no effects of the merger will be noticed by customers.”They are not changing any of their operations or employment, sothe board did not foresee any problems in that regard,” he said.The company employs 9,800 people.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings is the corporate parent ofMidAmerican Energy Co., a utility with 653,000 electric customersand 622,000 natural gas customers in a 10,600-square-mile area fromSioux Falls, SD, to the Quad-Cities areas of Iowa and Illinois.

The other merger announcement came from Sigcorp, which receivedits final approval from the SEC to merge with Indiana Energy Inc.(IEI) to form Vectren Corp. The companies expect to finish the dealby March 31. Previously, the companies received the approval of theFERC and the Department of Justice to proceed with the merger.

When finalized, Vectren will be the largest gas and electricutility in Indiana, service to more than 650,000 customers inadjoining service areas that cover nearly two-thirds of the state.

Vectren’s non-regulated subsidiaries will offer energy-relatedproducts and services, including energy marketing, fiber-opticbased communication services, and utility related servicesincluding materials management, debt collections, locating, meterreading and trenching services to customers throughout thesurrounding region.

Not to be overlooked in the formation of Vectren is the pendingaddition of DPL Inc. IEI announced plans to purchase DPL lastDecember.

The move will add approximately 305,000 residential, commercial,industrial, and government customers to Vectren’s customer base.The service area of DPL’s natural gas business is contiguous toVectren’s distribution system in East Central Indiana.

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