AEP closing sale of Kentucky operations at lower price

American Electric Power AEP, -1.21% said Thursday it agreed to a lower price of $2.65 billion for the sale of its Kentucky operations to Liberty Utilities and that it expects to close the deal in January. AEP originally planned to sell the business for $2.85 billion to Liberty in a deal announced in Oct., 2021. AEP said it’ll record a pre-tax loss of $180 million to $220 million in the third quarter as a result of the new price. The delay in the timing of the deal will not impact AEP’s equity needs or its operating earnings projections, AEP CFO Julie Sloat said. Liberty Utilities is the regulated utility business of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. AQN, +0.14%. The deal was originally expected to close in the second quarter. AEP shares rose 0.6% in premarket trades. Algonquin Power & Utilities rose 1.5%.