Unitil completes purchase of Northern Utilities

PORTLAND, Maine—Unitil on Monday officially closed its $160 million purchase of Maine-based Northern Utilities and Massachusetts-based Granite State Gas Transmission.

Company officials marked completion of the deal with a ceremony at the offices of Northern Utilities, which serves 52,000 customers in Maine and New Hampshire.

"Unitil welcomes the Northern and Granite employees, customers and communities to our system," said Robert Schoenberger, Unitil chairman and chief executive officer. "Unitil is positioned as a strong and well-diversified regional utility system serving a variety of attractive and economically diverse communities, including some of the finest small cities in America."

Unitil bought Granite State Gas Transmission and Northern Utilities from NiSource Inc., based in Merrillville, Ind. Northern Utilities is one of the primary customers of Granite State, which operates 86 miles of underground natural gas pipeline in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire.

In addition to the $160 million, the purchase price included $41.6 million in natural gas storage inventory and other working capital.

The closing followed approval of the deal by regulators in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Unitil, which is based in Hampton, N.H., is a utility holding company which had about 115,000 customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts before the sale was completed.