Pepco Stockholders Approve $6.8 Bln. Merger With Exelon - Update

(RTTNews) - Diversified utility company Pepco Holdings Inc (POM), Tuesday said its stockholders have approved the $6.8 billion merger with Exelon Corp (EXC), the largest nuclear operator in U.S.

Completion of the deal is subject to customary closing conditions, approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, among others.

The deal is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2015.

In April, Exelon agreed to buy Pepco for $27.25 per share, implying a deal value of about $6.8 billion.

The deal will bring together Exelon's three major electric and gas utilities — BGE, ComEd and PECO — and Pepco's electric and gas utilities — Atlantic City Electric, Delmarva Power and Pepco. The combined utilities will serve about 10 million customers and have a rate base of around $26 billion.

Pepco said its customers will benefit from a $100 million customer benefit fund that Exelon is establishing. Exelon also has committed to build on reliability improvements that are already underway at Pepco utilities.

The deal is expected to produce about 11,000 to 14,000 new jobs and up to $1.3 billion in benefits to the economies of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., within six years after the merger closes.

Pepco stock is trading at $27.10, down $0.04 or 0.15%, on a volume of 235k shares on the NYSE.