WEC Energy Group

Last updated
WEC Energy Group, Inc.
Company type Public
IndustryDiversified utilities
Founded1896;128 years ago (1896)
Headquarters Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Key people
Gale Klappa, Executive Chairman, Scott Lauber, CEO
Revenue US$7.65 billion (2017)
Number of employees
8,000 [1]  (2017)
Website wecenergygroup.com

WEC Energy Group is an American company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that provides electricity and natural gas to 4.4 million customers across four states. [1]

Contents

Subsidiaries

Wisconsin

Illinois

Minnesota

Michigan

History

Headquarters building in Milwaukee Public Service Building Milwaukee Wisconsin.jpg
Headquarters building in Milwaukee

Primergy merger

On May 3, 1995, Wisconsin Energy Corporation and Northern States Power Company (NYSE :  NSP) each filed a Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K to combine in a merger-of-equals transaction to form Primergy Corporation. It would have been the 10th largest investor-owned electric and gas utility company in the United States, based on market capitalization at that time of about US$6.0 billion. [8] [9] NSP would have been the nominal survivor, and the merged company would be headquartered in Minneapolis (headquarters of the old NSP), but the merged company would have been registered in Wisconsin.

On May 16, 1997, both CEOs announced that the boards of directors of both companies had terminated the merger plan because of approval delays by the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC, and state regulators in Minnesota and Wisconsin. [10] They also stated that regulatory agencies were changing their merger policies as they were considering the companies' filing and that further delay would reduce the benefits of the Primergy transaction. [10]

The delay already had put the merger five months behind schedule and had reduced earnings for both utilities by a total of US$58 million to that point. In addition, Wisconsin Energy's stock had fallen about 13% since early 1995 when the deal had been announced, while NSP's stock had risen by 6%. The case was considered to be a bellwether in the utilities industry, putting an end to the rapid pace of mergers and acquisitions that had been ongoing up to then. [11] [12]

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References

  1. 1 2 "WEC Energy Group". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  2. "About Us". Wisconsin River Power Company. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  3. North American Co. v. Securities and Exchange Commission , 327U.S.686 (1946). FindLaw.com
  4. "Wisconsin Energy completes Eselco purchase". Milwaukee Business Journal. 2 June 1998. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  5. Schuyler, David (23 June 2014). "Wisconsin Energy to acquire Integrys Energy Group in $9.1 billion deal (Video)". bizjournals . Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  6. [ permanent dead link ], WEC Energy Group, July 29
  7. Dill, Molly (2 February 2017). "WEC Energy Group to pay $230 million for natural gas company". biztimes. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  8. Wisconsin Energy Corp. Form 8-K, SEC Info, Filed On 5/3/95, SEC File 1-09057, Accession Number 107815-95-8
  9. Xcel Energy Inc. Form 8-K, Filed On 5/3/95, SEC File 1-03034, Accession Number 898822-95-46
  10. 1 2 Wisconsin Energy Corp., Northern States Power Co. Agree to Terminate Merger Proceedings, PRNewswire, May 16
  11. Lee Bergquist. "Primergy too strong for regulators' taste [ dead link ]". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 18, 1997.
  12. Lee Bergquist. "Monopoly Concerns Scuttled WE Energy Deal and Primergy and Northern States Power". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 23, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2015.