Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on TECO:

BUSINESS NEWS

Tampa leaders not concerned about Canadian utility buying TECO

By Jerome R. Stockfisch | Tribune Staff 
Published: September 8, 2015   |   Updated: September 9, 2015 at 06:03 AM

TAMPA — With the acquisition of TECO Energy by a Canadian power company, Tampa loses a prominent hometown corporate headquarters. But local leaders aren’t overly concerned about Nova Scotia-based Emera Inc. pulling the levers of the 115-year-old Tampa institution.

“Any time a company of such large stature, such deep community investment gets sold, it’s natural for the community to have some anxiety,” said Ron Christaldi, chairman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. “But from the statements I’ve seen from the top leadership of Emera, it appears that they will continue to engage in the community.”

Both John Ramil, president and chief executive at TECO, and Chris Huskilson, his counterpart at Emera, have been out in front of that issue in news conferences on the acquisition, announced Friday night. They said TECO’s downtown Tampa headquarters will remain intact, as will the name and all jobs.

Discussions on jobs and community involvement were part of negotiations on the $10.4 billion deal, Ramil said Tuesday, but “it didn’t take a whole lot of addressing because of their style and the way they do business. They have committed to maintain the charitable and other activities that we do, at least as much as we have been doing it.”

Hillsborough County Commission chairwoman Sandy Murman met with the Canadian executive team on Tuesday. “I was very impressed with them,” she said. “They want to be a part of this community. I feel very positive, a lot of good energy came from them.”

There are a couple of reasons for the lack of angst among Tampa leaders. Emera had no operations in Florida and will need the TECO personnel who produce power here. In a conference call with utility analysts Tuesday, Huskilson said Emera is making “a deep commitment to TECO’s existing employees, and we will be seeking to retain the entire management team and employees in this organization.”

He said a local operating board will be established with TECO and Emera representation.

Further, the nature of the utility business typically makes them major players in their communities. “A utility company, for its own well-being, is going to want to be very involved in the community and in economic development,” said Ramil. “It’s going to grow if its community grows. The natural instinct to try to help grow the area as your business grows is going to thrive.”

Tampa Electric has been a local institution since 1899. The parent company, TECO Energy, was incorporated in 1981. In addition to the electric utility, which has roughly 700,000 customers, mostly in Hillsborough and Polk counties, it is parent to Peoples Gas, with 350,000 customers across Florida, and New Mexico Gas Co., which has 500,000 customers in that state. It has roughly 4,000 employees, about 2,500 in Tampa.

TECO intends to sell off its TECO Coal subsidiary before the deal with Emera closes.

The roster of local organizations it supports reaches into the dozens, including Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, Glazer Children’s Museum, the Straz Center, the Tampa Bay History Center, The Spring and local universities.

Emera is a geographically diverse energy and services company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It grew out of its core utility business, Nova Scotia Power, which has 500,000 customers and was founded in 1919.

The company also holds Emera Maine, an electric utility serving 154,000 customers in that state; Emera Caribbean, which encompasses Barbados Light & Power, Dominica Electricity Services, Grand Bahama Power and St. Lucia Electricity Services, which collectively serve 179,000 customers; natural gas pipeline companies; energy services including marketing, trading and asset management; and service contractors.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said he learned of the acquisition while on a trade mission in Dublin, Ireland.

“While we’re obviously sad to lose a home-grown company, I think TECO’s presence and TECO’s footprint will be here for a long time to come,” he said. “We all knew that TECO was a smaller fish in a much larger pool and was going to be bought out. But everything I’ve heard from the new owners is that they care, they are committed to Tampa, and I don’t think any of that will change.”

TECO acknowledged in July that it had hired an acquisition adviser after its stock price jumped on sale rumors. Emera’s winning offer was $27.55 a share, a 48 percent premium to the share price prior to the sale rumors.

Ramil, who holds more than 750,000 TECO shares, saw their value rise from $13.8 million in July to $20.7 million under the buyout offer.

TECO shares soared on Tuesday, the first day of trading after the acquisition was announced. They closed up $5.27, or 25 percent, at $26.34.