The UK’s monopoly electricity transmitter, National Grid Group, has purchased the North American utility Niagara Mohawk Holdings (NiMo) for US$3B. This purchase is the UK utility’s third transatlantic deal since 1998. NiMo is the second largest combined electricity and gas utility in New York State, serving over 1.5M electricity and over 540,000 gas customers.
National Grid completed the purchases of the New England Electric System (NEES) in March for US$3.22B and the Boston-based Eastern Utilities Associates a month later for US$643M. NiMo completed the sale of all its fossil and hydroelectric generating assets in August 1999, and is currently in the process of selling its nuclear generating assets and buying back its shares.