{"text":[[{"start":11.4,"text":"US power company NextEra Energy is in talks to combine with rival Dominion Energy in a tie-up that would create a more than $400bn utility giant at a time of booming demand for electricity to power AI data centres."}],[{"start":26.85,"text":"The combination, which would rank as one of the largest deals of all time, could be announced as soon as next week, but discussions were ongoing, according to people familiar with the matter. "}],[{"start":37.150000000000006,"text":"They warned that talks — over what was expected to be a mostly stock deal — could still fall apart. "}],[{"start":43.35000000000001,"text":"The transaction would unite two of the biggest US electricity providers as booming demand from AI data centres, reshoring and electrification redraws the power market and fuels a race for scale across the utility industry."}],[{"start":58.30000000000001,"text":"By combining with Dominion, NextEra will extend its reach from its home base of Florida, where its offshoot Florida Power & Light serves roughly 6mn customer accounts, into the Carolinas and Virginia. Northern Virginia is home to so-called data centre alley, the heartland of US digital infrastructure serving the AI boom. "}],[{"start":78.75000000000001,"text":"NextEra, which operates in nearly every US state, has an enterprise value of $303bn, which includes about $100bn in net debt, according to FactSet data. Dominion, which provides electricity service to 3.6mn homes and businesses, has an enterprise value of $111bn, including roughly $50bn in net debt."}],[{"start":101.75000000000001,"text":"Shares in NextEra are up 25 per cent over the past year and it remains the most valuable US-listed utility group. However, its valuation lead over competitors has narrowed in recent years. "}],[{"start":115.25000000000001,"text":"A deal would mark a win for John Ketchum, NextEra’s chief executive, who had to pivot from a big push into renewable energy stimulated by the Biden administration to an “all-forms-of-energy” approach, using gas and nuclear, to meet the huge power demand from the build-out of data centres. "}],[{"start":133.15,"text":"NextEra and Dominion did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "}],[{"start":137.95000000000002,"text":"If the deal is finalised, it would rank as one of the biggest transactions of all time. Earlier this year, Paramount Skydance struck an $111bn deal to buy Hollywood studio Warner Bros amid a wave of megadeals across corporate America buoyed by the Trump administration’s openness to large mergers."}],[{"start":157.60000000000002,"text":"A deal of this size involving regulated utilities will have to secure approval from not just antitrust regulators but also federal and state energy authorities in the regions in which the two companies operate."}],[{"start":170.10000000000002,"text":"The potential tie-up comes as hyperscalers and AI groups including Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta race to secure vast amounts of electricity to power a new generation of energy-intensive data centres across the US."}],[{"start":183.70000000000002,"text":"NextEra signed an agreement with Google last year to reopen a nuclear plant in Iowa, which had been shut down for five years, to provide power to the big tech group. NextEra has also recently said it planned to build at least 15 gigawatts of new power generation for data centres over the next nine years, enough electricity to supply roughly 15mn homes."}],[{"start":207.10000000000002,"text":"Separately, a year ago, NextEra teamed up with a consortium of investors, including BlackRock, GIP, Microsoft, Nvidia and xAI, on efforts to expand energy infrastructure for AI data centres."}],[{"start":231.25000000000003,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778940998_2194.mp3"}