The United States energy company Southern Company announced it will merge with AGL Resources. Pursuant to the agreement, AGL Resources will become a new wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company in a transaction with an enterprise value of approximately US$12bn, including a total equity value of approximately US$8bn. The new company will be the second-largest utility company in the USA by customer base with 11 regulated electric and natural gas distribution companies providing service to approximately 9 million customers; operations of nearly 320,000 km (200,000 miles) of electric transmission and distribution lines and more than 130,000 km (80,000 miles) of gas pipelines; and generating capacity of approximately 46 GW. The companies expect to complete the transaction in the second half of 2016.
Meanwhile, the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia rejected Exelon Corporation's US$6.8bn bid for Pepco Holdings Inc. because the companies had failed to prove that the proposed merger was in the public interest.