Iberdrola To Buy UIL Holdings For $3 Billion In Shares, Cash

Spanish utility Iberdrola ES on Thursday announced plans to buy U.S.-based power and gas distributor UIL Holding as it seeks to expand in the U.S. Under the terms of the $3 billion cash and share deal, which has been approved by both companies, Iberdrola will merge UIL into its own Iberdrola USA unit. Iberdrola will offer one share of its company and $10.50 in cash for each share of UIL. The deal values each UIL share at $52.83, which is a 23.6% premium on Wednesday's closing price of $42.38. At the completion of the deal, Iberdrola will own 81.5% of Iberdrola USA and existing UIL shareholders will own 18.5%. Iberdrola will list the new company on a U.S. exchange.