PPL to sell propane, distribution businesses
The natural-gas company serves about 77,000 customers in 34 Pennsylvania counties and a small area of Maryland. It operates 3,800 miles of pipeline and owns underground gas storage space in three reservoirs in north-central Pennsylvania. The propane business buys wholesale propane and delivers it to 34,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia.
PPL officials said they are selling the businesses because they are a small part of the company. They accounted for about 1 percent of PPL's earnings from ongoing operations last year, the company said.
"Although these businesses have been operationally and financially successful, their relative size and earnings contributions limit their strategic value to PPL's future growth," Chief Operating Officer William Spence said. "We believe the capital investments necessary to maintain and expand these businesses would be better devoted to our core electricity supply and delivery businesses."
PPL has sold business units in El Salvador and Bolivia in the past year to focus on its core business. It has also reached an agreement to sell its telecommunications business. The company expects a sale to be completed during the second half of next year.
It did not name any potential buyers. The company has hired Lehman Brothers as financial adviser during the sales process. PPL ranks as the Valley's fourth-largest employer, with about 2,700 employees in Lehigh and Northampton counties at the start of the year.
Related News
Hundreds facing hydro disconnection as bills pile up during winter ban
TORONTO - The first of May has taken on new meaning this year in Ontario.
It's when the province's ban on hydro disconnections during the winter months comes to an end.
Wendy Watson, the director of communications at Greater Sudbury Utilities, says signs of the approaching deadline could be seen in their office of the past few weeks.
"We've had quite an active stream of people into our front office to catch up on their accounts and also we've had a lot of people calling us to make payment arrangements or pay their bill or deal with their arrears," she says.
#google#
Watson says there are…
