Analysts: NextEra Deal Less Likely

Bloomberg analysts says the uphill battle in Hawaii may make the Florida-based company walk away from the $4.3 billion merger.

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The $4.3 billion merger deal between Florida-based NextEra Energy and Hawaiian Electric Industries is looking less likely to go through, analysts said in a Bloomberg story Tuesday.

The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission in March finished more than a year of public hearings and a quasi-judicial process of reviewing the proposal. A final decision is expected this summer.

Analysts suspect NextEra may be looking to forget the “uphill battle in Hawaii” and instead buy Texas-based utility Oncor Electric Delivery, Bloomberg reported.

Gov. David Ige’s administration and two dozen intervening parties in the PUC docket have opposed the merger, questioning its benefits to Hawaii and whether NextEra is committed to the state’s goal of 100 percent renewable energy.

NextEra spokesman Rob Gould declined to comment Tuesday on the analysts’ thoughts on the deal being less likely to go through, as did Hawaiian Electric spokesman Darren Pai.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

PUC Nextera Enery President Eric Gleason with NextEra Energy spokesman Rob Gould with foreground, CEO and President of Hawaiian Electric Co. Alan Oshima during last day of PUC meeting.
Nextera Enery Hawaii President Eric Gleason, right, with NextEra Energy spokesman Rob Gould and Hawaiian Electric CEO Alan Oshima, in foregroung, during last day of the PUC’s evidentiary hearings in March. Cory Lum/Civil Beat

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