TransCanada buys Columbia Pipeline

SALEM, Ohio — The Canadian energy company TransCanada Corp. has acquired all of the outstanding shares of Columbia Pipeline Group — the owners of Columbia Gas Transmission — for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $13 billion, including the assumption of approximately $2.8 billion of debt.

The acquisition will make Columbia an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of TransCanada.

“The acquisition has solidified our position as one of the largest natural gas distribution companies and a strategically important player in the United States and across North America, said Karl Johannson, TransCanada’s president, natural gas pipelines.

With the acquisition, TransCanada’s natural gas pipelines assets have grown by almost 40 percent.

Same identity

Mark Cooper, senior lead for media relations at TransCanada, told Farm and Dairy that Columbia will retain its identity as an entity under the TransCanada brand and banner. Columbia will start to use the TransCanada brand on materials such as business cards, letterhead and presentations.

As for existing offices and locations, Cooper said those will be evaluated going forward.

“We do know that in merging two organization of this size, there is inevitably areas of duplication,” he said. “As we move forward with integration, we will have a better idea of what duplication exists and how this may or may not impact locations