Mergers & Acquisitions

“Given the rapid periodicity of change in the larger ecosystem, navigating the investments in the energy sector today is not about eliminating uncertainty – it is about reducing uncertainty through better information, and then developing solutions that are resilient to a variety of future outcomes.”

“State regulatory commissions can be demanding in how they evaluate proposed mergers, such as by applying the public interest standard and distributing net synergy benefits (after costs-to-achieve) between customers and shareholders.”

“I think we’re going to see a lot of portfolio shifts versus full company deals in the near term.”

“A well-constructed regulatory plan is the most critical element of the application approval filing.”

“Four critical transaction components define success in a merger – bid prices, net synergies (after costs-to-achieve), regulatory approvals, and integration execution.”

“We’re targeting carbon reduction and that could incent deals. The other side of that is, it seems the bar continues to get raised in how deals will be evaluated and the scrutiny they’ll be under given ESG goals.”

“These last six months we saw the financial players show up in a big way, where over the last several quarters it’s been heavily strategic players.”

“Valuations have held up very well in contrast to what was an initial concern as we entered the pandemic that they would be hit much harder.”

“This could be the start of something that goes into 2021 of some portfolio shuffling versus what we saw in the last handful of years, where there was a lot of merger of equal deals or full company takeouts.”

Could oil majors become the next big players in the U.S. utility space?