AES agrees to acquire Ohio utility for 3.5 billion in cash

April 20, 2011, 4: 33 pm EDT by Kari Lundgren

(Updates with acquisitions in the third paragraph).

April 20 (Bloomberg) - AES Corp., a public service of electricity U.S. with operations in 28 countries, agreed to buy DPL Inc. $ 3.5 billion of $ cash cash, adding more than 500,000 customers in Ohio.AES pay $30 per share for DPL based in Dayton, Ohio, according to a statement today. It is a premium of 8.7% over closing of 27.59 yesterday $ per share. Arlington, Virginia-based AES will assume also 1.2 billion of net debt.Acquisitions in the US and European power industry are gathered pace, companies seeking to add customers to offset the costs of complying with environmental regulations and the construction of new power plants. Before today's agreement, 2011 had seen 76 trafficking in the industry of the world, with a total value of $ 45.6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The average premium rate was 14 per cent.In January, Duke Energy Corp. announced its intention to acquire progress Energy Inc. $ 13.7 billion in stock, creating the largest U.S. utility. The month last PPL Corp. agreed to pay 3.5 billion pounds ($5,73 billion) for the grid power of E.ON AG in the Centre of England. "We are focusing our efforts of growth in some key markets, including the utility sector to the United States,"Paul Hanrahan, chief executive officer of AES, said in the statement." "The acquisition of DPL should be of value and earnings accretive, benefiting regional provided by our utility company nearby in Indianapolis Power & Light Co." DPL operates power plants, with a capacity of 3,800 megawatts, with the majority composed of coal of low-cost-were taken from the units. AES has 40,500 megawatts of capacity and 11.5 million customers. Sales in 2010 amounted to about 17 billion dollars and the company controls approximately 41 billion dollars in total assets, AES said in the statement.

-Editors: Alex Devine, John Buckley

To contact the reporter on this story: Kari Lundgren at the klundgren2@bloomberg.net London

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy to the wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

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