Duke Energy, post-Cinergy

[cw52808]

On May 9, 2005, Cinergy and Duke Energy announced a merger to create an energy company with approximately $36 billion in market capitalization, assets totaling more than $70 billion, and 5.4 million retail electric and gas customers.

Paul Anderson will maintain his position as Chairman of the Board, and continue to buy utilities. He's stated that he wants Duke Energy to become the Bank of America of the utility world. Having such an aggressive stance will surely put the company into a space crunch.

I remember when the merger was announced in May, an employee of Duke Power said that they were looking at buying the Coliseum and turning it into a huge office. I suppose they've been looking for space, and if they continue to grow they'll need it.

Isn't it great having such strong-willed individuals in charge of our North Carolina companies? Yeah, it is...

[dubone]

Duke has continually stated that they have plenty of room to grow in 400 S Tryon. I tend to believe them because they gave up their site for an HQ to the Wachovia complex off First Street.

It is definitely a shame, though.

[ChiefJoJo]

FYI, there was an interesting article in the News & Observer today about Duke and Progress Energy. I started a topic here.

[Raintree21]

The article says that the merger rumors are strictly hypothetical and there have also been the same scuttlebutts flying about a Progress - Southern Company merger as well. One thing it did mention, is that if this does go through, and after a year or two of regulatory committees, either Raleigh or Charlotte would lose a HQ and jobs would be cut.

[monsoon]

..... and jobs would be cut.

[HopHead]

It would seem to me that the cons would outweigh the pros of this merger... especially from a shareholder and economic standpoint.