Utilities Acquisitions in 2022

Iowa American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, acquired the City of Blue Grass wastewater system for $2.0 million following Iowa Utilities Board approval. The acquisition adds about 750 wastewater customers to Iowa American Water's Quad Cities service area and the company plans approximately $4 million in capital investments to upgrade the system.

NW Natural Water Company, a subsidiary of Northwest Natural Holding Company, has completed the acquisition of the water and wastewater utilities of Far West Water & Sewer, Inc., serving the Foothills area of Yuma, Arizona. The acquired utilities (doing business as Foothills Utilities) serve roughly 25,000 connections and employ about 40 people; the deal expands NW Natural Water's operations into Arizona.

California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, acquired privately owned Warring Water Services, Inc., a small water utility serving the community of Piru, California. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the $4.6 million transaction, which brings about 634 customer connections into California American Water’s Ventura County district and expands its local service footprint.

Essential Utilities Inc.'s Pennsylvania wastewater subsidiary, Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater, acquired the municipal wastewater assets of East Whiteland Township (Chester County, PA) for approximately $55 million. The system serves about 8,200 customer-equivalents across 57 miles of collection mains and 12 pump stations; Aqua expects roughly $17 million in infrastructure improvements over the next decade.

Missouri American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, completed the acquisition of the City of Eureka's water and wastewater systems, which serve about 4,000 water and 4,000 wastewater customers. The company will construct a new five-mile pipeline to connect Eureka to its St. Louis County system (drawing from the Missouri River), deploy advanced metering infrastructure, and invest more than $37 million in the systems over the next ten years; the City of Eureka will redeploy the sale proceeds to community investment.

NW Natural Water Company, LLC (a subsidiary of Northwest Natural Holding Company) signed agreements to acquire Northwest Water Services and Aquarius Utilities, which together serve about 1,400 connections in Washington near its existing Cascadia Water footprint. The deals are subject to customary closing conditions, including Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approval, and are expected to close in 2022.

D.R. Horton, through its subsidiary Potable Merger Sub, completed a cash tender offer to acquire Vidler Water Resources, Inc. at $15.75 per share, acquiring 14,229,878 shares (approximately 77.8% of outstanding shares) and subsequently merging Vidler into the buyer so that Vidler became a wholly owned subsidiary. Following the merger, all remaining Vidler shares were converted into the right to receive $15.75 per share and Vidler’s common stock was delisted from Nasdaq.

Washington Water Service, a subsidiary of California Water Service Group, has entered into an agreement to acquire the water utility assets of Stroh's Water Company, which serves about 900 customer connections near Gig Harbor, Washington. The acquisition (subject to customary closing conditions and WUTC approval) will allow Washington Water to interconnect Stroh's system with surrounding systems to improve reliability and consolidate operations.

Aquarion Company, the parent of Aquarion Water Company (a subsidiary of Eversource Energy), will acquire all outstanding shares of The Torrington Water Company in a stock-for-stock merger that will make TWC a wholly owned subsidiary of Aquarion. TWC shareholders will receive shares of Eversource Energy in a tax-free reorganization, and the deal is expected to close pending regulatory and stockholder approvals by the end of 2022.

Essential Utilities' Aqua Pennsylvania subsidiary acquired the wastewater system of Lower Makefield Township (Bucks County, PA) for $53 million, adding roughly 11,000 customer connections and pushing Aqua Pennsylvania's total customer connections above 500,000. Aqua Pennsylvania plans about $10 million of infrastructure investment in the system over the first 10 years and the transaction represents a sale of municipal wastewater assets by Lower Makefield Township.

Dresser Utility Solutions has closed the acquisition of Itron's global gas regulator business and Itron's European commercial & industrial (C&I) mechanical gas meter and stations business. As part of the deal, the employees supporting those businesses transfer to Dresser, which said the acquisition expands its metering, regulation and stations capabilities while Itron focuses on advanced networks and data-driven solutions.

Missouri American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, has completed its acquisition of the City of Orrick's water and wastewater systems in Ray County, Missouri. The transaction adds approximately 340 water and 340 wastewater customers; Missouri American Water plans to invest $1.3 million in system improvements over the next five years to maintain service and regulatory compliance.

SJW Group’s Texas subsidiary, SJWTX Inc. (dba Canyon Lake Water Service Company), has closed the acquisition of Texas Country Water (TCW) in Comal County, Texas. The acquisition — the fourth Texas purchase by SJWTX in the past 12 months — adds more than 100 customers to SJWTX’s footprint as the company continues geographic expansion and infrastructure investment in the Austin–San Antonio growth corridor.

Global Water Resources, Inc. completed the acquisition of two small Arizona water utilities, Twin Hawks Utility, Inc. (Pinal County) and Rincon Water Company (Pima County), adding approximately 93 service connections. The transactions are tuck-in add-ons to Global Water's Arizona utility platform to expand its regional footprint and consolidate local water operations.

Keystone Capital Management’s portfolio company ClearWater Solutions (CWS) has acquired Midwest Water Operations (MWO), a Missouri-based provider of outsourced operations and maintenance services for water and wastewater facilities. The deal (terms undisclosed) expands CWS’s geographic footprint and service capabilities across municipal and private utility clients; the combined business now serves 12 states with approximately 400 employees.

E Source, a provider of research, data science and consulting for North American utilities, has acquired AAC Utility Partners, a Columbia, South Carolina-based vendor-independent consulting firm that specializes in customer information systems (CIS), program management and cloud consulting for utilities. The transaction is an add-on to E Source's Technology Planning and Implementation (TPI) business unit and is intended to expand the company's implementation, CIS and cloud capabilities for electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities.