Chesapeake Utilities and Gatherco, a natural gas infrastructure company providing natural gas midstream services, entered into a merger agreement, dated as of January 30, 2015 under which Chesapeake Utilities will acquire Gatherco. Upon consummation of the transaction, Gatherco will merge into Aspire Energy of Ohio (Aspire Energy), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities. The transaction was approved by the Gatherco board of directors and by Chesapeake Utilities' merger and acquisition committee. The merger, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015, is subject to approval by the Gatherco shareholders. The transaction has an aggregate value of approximately $59.2 million.
