By POST-TRIBUNE STAFF
NIPSCO, the electric utility serving Northwest Indiana, is for sale and expected to fetch between $3.4 billion and $4 billion, according to a report by Crain's Chicago Business.
The likely buyer of the power operations of Northern Indiana Public Service Co. is Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy Group, people familiar with the matter told Crain's. Duke recently bought an electric utility with extensive operations in the southern half of Indiana.
Not included in the sale, the sources said, is the natural gas utility operated by NIPSCO. That will continue as part of Merrillville-based parent company NiSource Inc., whose operations include gas utilities in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and Maryland, as well as a gas pipeline business serving the eastern half of the United States.
"All I can tell you is that it's market speculation," said Kris Falzone, a NiSource spokeswoman. Falzone declined to comment further. Duke officials also declined to comment.
But NIPSCO union president Jim Blythe said he's not surprised by the announcement.
"They have to find a way to pay down their debt," Blythe said. "If the right opportunity came, they would sell. We just don't see any place for potential growth to pay for the debt."
NiSource chairman Gary Neale stepped down in November. In August, he'd sold 191,000 shares of the company's stock for $4.044 million.
New York-based Blackston Group LP is handling the sale of the utility, allowing NiSource to focus exclusively on natural gas, according to Crain's.
Sources told Crain's that while Duke is the most likely buyer, it's possible another utility could bid for the company. But Chicago-based Exelon Corp. is not interested, the sources said.
NIPSCO's electric utility business serves about 450,000 customers in the northern third of Indiana. It operates three coal-fired power plants and six small natural gas-fired plants.
It accounts for nearly 30 percent of NiSource's operating income.