Buffetts Berkshire to Buy Dominion Energy Gas Assets for $4 Billion

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said its energy unit will buy Dominion Energy Inc.s natural gas transmission and storage network for $4 billion, helping billionaire Chairman Warren Buffett reduce his conglomerates cash pile while letting Dominion focus on utilities operations.

The transaction announced on July 5 includes more than 7,700 miles (12,390 km) of natural gas transmission lines and 900 billion cubic feet of gas storage.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy is buying Dominion Energy Transmission, Questar Pipeline, Carolina Gas Transmission, 50 percent of the Iroquois Gas Transmission System, and 25 percent of the Cove Point liquefied natural gas facility in Maryland.

Dominion will retain 50 percent of Cove Point. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. owns 25 percent.

Shareholders are reflected in a sculpture as they queue to enter the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., on May 4, 2019. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

The Berkshire unit will also assume $5.7 billion of debt, giving the transaction a $9.7 billion enterprise value. It expects a fourth-quarter closing, pending regulatory approvals.

“We are very proud to be adding such a great portfolio of natural gas assets to our already strong energy business,” Buffett said in a statement.

Dominion expects up to 90 percent of future operating earnings to come from utilities.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., walks through the exhibit hall at the companys annual meeting in Omaha, Neb., on May 5, 2018. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)

The company and Duke Energy Inc. separately announced on Sunday they would abandon their $8 billion AtlantRead More – Source