Investing.com -- Piedmont Natural Gas Company (N:PNY) president and CEO Thomas Skains announced on Friday that he will retire from the company upon the close of the company's merger with Duke Energy Corporation (N:DUK).
Skains joined Piedmont Natural Gas in 1995, after spending almost 15 years with Transcontinental Gas in Houston. Prior to Skains' appointment as chairman, president and CEO of Piedmont Natural Gas in 2003 and COO a year earlier, Skains served as the company's senior vice president of marketing and supply service.
"I am making this personal decision now to help make sure we move forward with the transition and allow the Duke and Piedmont management teams to make important long-term leadership, organizational and integration decisions for the new Piedmont Natural Gas operations subsidiary of Duke Energy," Skains said in an email to company employees.
Last month, Duke Energy acquired Piedmont in a $4.9 billion all-cash deal. Duke Energy will also assume approximately $1.8 billion in Piedmont Natural Gas existing net debt, representing an enterprise value of approximately $6.7 billion. The companies have enlisted Barclays (L:BARC) to provide a fully underwritten bridge facility to complete the transaction. Duke Energy will finance the deal with a combination of debt, between $500 million and $750 million of newly issued equity and other cash sources, the company said in a statement.
The acquisition of Piedmont will provide Duke Energy with more than 1 million residential, commercial, industrial and power-generation utility customers in Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The deal is expected to be completed at some point in 2016.
"This combination provides us with a growing natural gas platform, benefiting our customers, communities and investors," Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good said last month.
Skains served as the chairman of the American Gas Association in 2009 and as the chairman of the Southern Gas Association in 2006. He currently serves on the board of directors for each organization, as well as on the boards of BB&T Corporation (N:BBT) and Branch Banking and Trust Company, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and Charlotte Center City Partners.
"I am very excited about all the opportunities this strategic combination offers to our customers and our employees," Skains added. "Lynn and I want to ensure this is a smooth transition for our organizations."