March 2 (Reuters) - A consortium led by BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners and equity firm EQT AB on Monday agreed to acquire U.S. power company AES Corp for $33.4 billion, including debt.
The deal underscores how utilities have become prime takeover targets as the artificial intelligence boom reshapes electricity markets.
Shares of AES were down more than 17% in premarket trading.
AES said it would have improved access to capital to invest in critical energy infrastructure assets and deliver
"reliable energy solutions" for its customers.
AES Indiana and AES Ohio will remain locally operated and managed regulated utilities, with continued community commitment and investment.
The consortium will acquire AES for $15.00 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of $10.7 billion, the companies said.
The share price represents a 13% discount to AES' last close but was still a 35.5% premium to the stock's closing price on July 8, prior to the first media report of a potential acquisition.
GIP has been expanding its utility footprint, including a $6.2 billion take-private of Allete with CPP Investments in 2024. It also bought a natural gas plant in Pennsylvania for $1 billion and acquired a stake in the 774-megawatt Potomac Energy Center in Virginia.
The transaction is expected to close in late 2026 or early 2027.
(Reporting by Sumit Saha, Katha Kalia, Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai, Sriraj Kalluvila and Maju Samuel)
