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US power generation group Constellation Energy is to buy rival Calpine in a deal that values the target at just under $27bn, the companies announced on Friday.
In a joint statement, the companies said that the deal “creates the nation’s largest clean energy provider”.
Constellation will pay $16.4bn for Calpine’s equity, comprised of $4.5bn in cash and 50mn shares, and will also assume the target’s debt.
Joe Dominguez, chief executive of Constellation, said that combining Constellation’s zero-emission nuclear energy with Calpine’s low-carbon natural gas and geothermal generation fleets would offer “the broadest array of energy products and services available in the industry”.
Shares in Constellation have more than doubled in value over the past year as the rollout of artificial intelligence data centres and reshoring of manufacturing activities have led to an unprecedented surge in power demand forecasts.
The US electricity system is grappling with a historic rise in power demand after two decades of negligible growth. Consulting firm ICF expects the country’s power consumption to grow by nearly 20 per cent by 2033.
Calpine operates a fleet of 78 gas plants and other energy facilities across the US, which generate enough electricity to power about 27mn homes.
Constellation operates the largest fleet of conventional nuclear reactors in the US and last year announced it planned to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
This is a developing story
