Emera’s big deal takes a step forward

Article Excerpt

EMERA INC. $42 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 145.3 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) recently agreed to acquire Teco Energy (New York symbol TE), which supplies electricity and natural gas to 1.05 million customers in Tampa Bay and the surrounding region. A separate subsidiary distributes gas to 510,000 clients in New Mexico. The company will pay $6.5 billion U.S. in cash for Teco. If you include Teco’s debt, the deal is worth $10.4 billion U.S. Teco shareholders have already approved the sale. Regulators still need to agree, but Emera should complete the purchase in mid-2016. By 2019, the company expects the new operations to increase its earnings per share by 10%. Emera is a buy. buy…