The Southern Company
Acquisitions
3
Major Deals Covered
$9.9B
Disclosed Deal Value
Southern's largest disclosed acquisition here is AGL Resources for $8B in 2016. This page covers 3 major deals, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| AGL Resources | 2016 | $8.0B | The all-cash deal, about $12B including assumed debt, added a regulated gas distribution business to Southern's electric utilities. |
| PowerSecure | 2016 | $431.0M | Added distributed generation, microgrid and utility infrastructure services. |
| Southern Natural Gas (50% interest) | 2016 | $1.5B | Southern Company bought a 50 percent interest in the Southern Natural Gas pipeline system from Kinder Morgan in 2016. |
2016
$8.0B
The all-cash deal, about $12B including assumed debt, added a regulated gas distribution business to Southern's electric utilities.
AGL became Southern Company Gas, adding Nicor Gas, Atlanta Gas Light, Virginia Natural Gas and Chattanooga Gas.
Closed July 1, 2016; gas distribution is now one of Southern's major segments.
2016
$431M
Added distributed generation, microgrid and utility infrastructure services.
Gave Southern a business serving commercial, industrial and data center customers outside its regulated model.
Closed in May 2016 and operates as a Southern Company subsidiary.
2016
$1.5B
Southern Company bought a 50 percent interest in the Southern Natural Gas pipeline system from Kinder Morgan in 2016.
The stake gave Southern an interest in the pipeline that supplies gas to its power plants and utilities.
Completed in September 2016 for about $1.47 billion.
Southern Company's strategy is to build generation, transmission and storage for large new customers, mainly data centers and manufacturers. Its 2026-2030 capital plan was raised to $81B in February 2026 from $76B, with about half aimed at generation. Contracted large load grew from about 10 GW at the end of 2025 to 17 GW by July 2026, including an OpenAI data center contract in Georgia. Georgia Power has agreed to backstop costs of new projects so existing customers are protected under the base rate freeze.
Southern Company makes most of its money from state-regulated utilities. Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power are vertically integrated electric utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution and charge rates approved by their state commissions, earning an allowed return on the capital they invest. Southern Company Gas distributes natural gas through Atlanta Gas Light, Nicor Gas, Virginia Natural Gas and Chattanooga Gas. Southern Power sells wholesale electricity from gas, solar, wind and battery assets mostly under long-term contracts. Earnings growth therefore depends on growing the regulated asset base and recovering those costs in rates.
In July 2016, Southern Company completed the $12 billion acquisition of AGL Resources (including assumed debt). The transformational transaction created the second-largest utility company in the United States by customer count, added 4.4 million natural gas utility customers across four states, and established Southern Company Gas.
The AGL Resources buyout brought several major local gas distribution companies under Southern Company's umbrella: Nicor Gas (serving suburban Chicago and northern Illinois with over 2.2 million customers), Atlanta Gas Light in Georgia, Virginia Natural Gas, and Chattanooga Gas in Tennessee.
In May 2016, Southern Company acquired PowerSecure International for approximately $431 million in cash. The acquisition positioned Southern Company at the forefront of distributed energy, giving it proprietary manufacturing capabilities for advanced microgrids, standby generation systems, and commercial energy storage.
In January 2019, Southern Company closed the sale of Gulf Power Company, along with ownership stakes in Plants Oleander and Stanton in Florida, to NextEra Energy for $5.75 billion in cash. The sale eliminated Florida regulatory exposure, generated immediate liquidity to fund the capital-intensive Plant Vogtle build, and significantly improved holding company debt-to-equity metrics.
Georgia Power is the primary owner and licensed operator with a 45.7% ownership interest. Co-owners include Oglethorpe Power Corporation (30.0%), the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power, 22.7%), and Dalton Utilities (1.6%).
Between 2012 and 2024, wholesale subsidiary Southern Power systematically acquired dozens of operating and development-stage utility-scale solar arrays, wind farms, and natural gas peaking facilities across California, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia, contracting output to municipal utilities and corporate buyers under long-term PPAs.
During the utility deregulation boom of the late 1990s, Southern Company established Southern Energy Inc. to hold unregulated international and merchant power assets. In April 2001, Southern Company completely spun off the business as Mirant Corporation to shareholders, shielding the regulated utilities before Mirant went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003.
Yes. In the 1990s, Southern Company made significant international acquisitions, purchasing major stakes in South Western Electricity Board (SWEB) in the United Kingdom, Consolidated Electric Power Asia (CEPA) in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and utilities in Chile and Trinidad. All were divested or transferred into Mirant before 2001 to return Southern Company to its core domestic regulated footprint.
Southern Company Gas selectively acquires intrastate natural gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) peak-shaving facilities, and underground salt-cavern natural gas storage facilities that enhance gas supply reliability for its utility service territories in Illinois and Georgia.
The transaction required comprehensive regulatory approvals from state utility commissions in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, alongside federal antitrust clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
Southern Company utilizes conservative hybrid financing structures, combining cash from asset divestitures, long-term holding company debt, equity issuances through its dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP), and hybrid mandatory convertible notes to preserve its BBB+/Baa1 credit ratings.
In the mid-2020s, Southern Company has pivoted away from mega-acquisitions. Instead, it focuses on organic capital deployment into its existing electric and gas rate bases, funding grid expansion and generation additions to satisfy historic industrial and data center load growth across the Southeast.
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