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FERC signs off on Great Plains/Westar merger of equals

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FERC signs off on Great Plains/Westar merger of equals

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signed off on a stock-for-stock merger of equals between Great Plains Energy Inc. and Westar Energy Inc. on Feb. 28.

The neighboring companies' revised deal entails merging to create a new holding company that will be worth approximately $14 billion. Great Plains and Westar withdrew their original FERC application after the Kansas Corporate Commission rejected their original merger plan in April 2017.

The state regulator said Great Plains' original plan to acquire Westar for $12.2 billion, including about $3.6 billion of assumed debt, was too risky and not in the best interests of the public.

Great Plains and Westar acknowledged that their generation resources overlap in the Southwest Power Pool balancing authority area but said a full delivered price test analysis of that market supports experts' conclusion that the merger would raise no horizontal market power concerns.

Under the terms of the revised deal, Westar shareholders will get 1 new share in the new entity for each share they own, while Great Plains Energy shareholders will get 0.5981 share in the new company for each existing share. The revised deal involves no premium paid or received with respect to either company, no transaction debt and no exchange of cash. (FERC docket EC17-171)