Valley Water System Part Of Aquarion Acquisition Of NESC

SOUTHINGTON/FARMINGTON, CT — New England’s largest private water company is expanding its operations in Connecticut and two other states and the merger will affect customers of the Valley Water System in Southington, Farmington and Plainville.

Aquarion Company Wednesday announced that it has completed the acquisition of New England Service Company. Aquarion is a Bridgeport-based holding company that, through subsidiaries, provides regulated water service to customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. NESC is a holding company based in Plainville that also services systems in the three states.

Through the acquisition, NESC becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Aquarion that adds nearly 10,000 former NESC customers to Aquarion's base of 216,000 customers.

All NESC employees are being retained, according to the announcement.

"Aquarion is pleased to be able to provide high-quality, reliable water service to the customers previously served by NESC," Aquarion President Donald Morrissey said. "We’re also excited to welcome all of NESC's employees, who will now become part of our team. "We look forward to providing excellent service and industry-leading technical expertise to all of the NESC customers joining the Aquarion family."

The acquisition follows the approval of the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, and the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. The acquisition was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Aquarion and NESC and was also approved by NESC's stockholders in August.

The NESC acquisition marks the 26th and largest transaction that Aquarion has completed since 2011, a 10-year period duding which Aquarion added 84 distinct systems.

Said Morrissey, "Over the course of these acquisitions, we've added more than 10 percent to our customer base and, through this consolidation, strengthened service for new and existing customers alike. We're proud to have the opportunity to provide outstanding water to even more families and businesses across New England."

The acquisition was a stock-for-stock transaction structured to be a tax-free reorganization, according t the announcement. Through the acquisition, NESC stockholders received 0.51208 shares of the common shares of Aquarion's parent, Eversource Energy, in exchange for each share of NESC common stock. In connection with the exchange, Eversource Energy issued approximately 463,000 shares of Eversource Common Stock at closing, according to the announcement.