Dykema Team Helps 12-Member Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperative (SMEC) Finalize Agreement to Acquire Electric Distribution Systems and Related Assets from Alliant Energy
$128 Million Deal Enables SMEC to Add 43,000 Customers in Nearly 60 Minnesota Communities
Press Mentions
9.12.13
A team of Dykema attorneys, led by Jeff Dalebroux, helped Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperative (SMEC), a 12-member co-op formed last year with the intent of expanding its distribution of electric power to small communities throughout southern Minnesota, execute a definitive purchase agreement regarding a $128 million deal with Alliant Energy Corporation. The transaction, which still requires state and federal regulatory approvals, enables SMEC to acquire Alliant Energy’s electric distribution operations and related businesses. As part of the agreement, SMEC also agrees to purchase wholesale power from Alliant Energy for 10 years.
Key members of the Dykema team, a multi-discipline group that included attorneys from Corporate Finance, Real Estate and Environmental, Tax and Employee Benefits, and Labor & Employment, included:
Dave Cellitti, Greg Wright and Michael Kim from Corporate Finance
Steve Grob, Pam MacDougal and Mark Weisbard from Tax and Employee Benefits
Mark Jacobs, Matt Raczkowski and Mike Sexton from Real Estate and Environmental
Mel Muskovitz from Labor & Employment
Jeff Dalebroux, Director of Dykema’s Business Services Department, says, “We are delighted to have assisted our client, Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperative, advance this transaction. Our long-standing experience in the energy industry, particularly with electrical distribution cooperatives, coupled with our ability to assemble a multi-discipline team to skillfully handle the myriad issues that accompany a deal of this size and complexity, served the client well.”
Upon regulatory approval—expected sometime in 2014—former Alliant Energy customers will become member-owners of their local cooperative. SMEC executives believe this transaction will make its cooperatives stronger and more efficient, and provide long-term economies-of-scale benefits to both current and new member-owners. Once approved, the deal will add 43,000 new SMEC member-owners, residing in 60 chiefly rural communities in southern Minnesota, in an area that spans nearly 15,000 square miles.
