The first order of business for the new year, or at least a Top 10 concern, will be whether the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will reconsider, and rehear, the Avista-Hydro One merger. The executives behind the $5.3-billion (U.S.) proposed transaction, a deal denied in an excoriating decision by the UTC in early December, face crushing pressure to get the Washington regulator to change its mind. The deal had been scheduled to close at the end of March, with transaction funding due to vaporize soon thereafter. That clock started ticking on those deliberations on Dec. 17. The first is that the commission “misapprehended” the political risks as a result of the Province of Ontario’s 47-per-cent ownership stake.

Source: thestar January 01, 2019 19:18 UTC