Fortis gets U.S. regulatory approval for $4.3B UNS Energy acquisition + MORE Apr 2nd

A report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that the country’s 86 richest individuals and families — or 0.002 per cent of the total population — are getting exponentially richer and now have accumulated as much wealth as the country’s poorest 11.4 million.

OTTAWA – While politicians in Ottawa still can’t decide who is in the middle class, a new analysis suggests wealth is increasingly gravitating to the very top.
The report by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that the country’s 86 richest individuals and families — or 0.002 per cent of the total population — are getting exponentially richer and now have accumulated as much wealth as the country’s poorest 11.4 million.
That’s more than in 1999, when the richest 86 had as much money as the poorest 10.1 million and enough to buy up everything in New Brunswick and still have about $40 billion left over, according to the report, to be released Thursday.
The point of the exercise, says economist and author David Macdonald, who used Statistics Canada data and research from Canadian Business magazine, is to show that if income inequality is a policy and social justice concern — wealth inequality is worse.
In fact, the super-rich list of Canadian residents has little to do with income in the traditional sense, he said…

China has outlined a stimulus package designed to boost spending on railways and encourage other construction investment after signs its economy is slowing to below Premier Li Keqiang’s target of 7.5 per cent growth this year.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. (TSX:FTS), one of Canada’s largest utility companies, has received regulatory approval in the U.S. to move ahead with its acquisition of UNS Energy Corp.
The company, which operates power and gas utilities in several provinces and U.S. states, says the Washington-based Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave the deal the green light, finding that it was “consistent with the public interest.” The purchase of UNS is valued at $4.3 billion, including $2.5 billion cash plus assumed debt
Shareholders of UNS Energy, an Arizona-based electricity and gas utility company, already approved the purchase at the end of March.
The acquisition, which is expected to close later this year, is still subject to regulatory approval from the state, and subject to other reviews.
Fortis says about one-third of its assets will be in the United States once the UNS deal closes and it will gain 650,000 customers in Arizona — part of the company’s strategy of geographic diversification…

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