Pennsylvania-based UGI Utilities engaged PJT Partners to run a sales process, said sources familiar with the situation.

First round bids were submitted in recent weeks, added those sources.

While multiple middle market infrastructure funds, who invested in utility spinoffs, took a look at the asset, there is a general consensus that UGI might be better off in the hands of a larger strategic player.

The Denver, Pennsylvania-based UGI is a subsidiary of UGI International. The gas utility serves over 642,000 customers in 45 eastern and central Pennsylvania counties, and the electric utility provides service to over 62,000 customers in Luzerne and Wyoming counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

There has been an M&A market for utilities this year as capital costs continue to rise for utilities to replace aging infrastructure, bring new power resources online and also figure out how to integrate new sources of load demand, from data centers and other heavy industrial sources, onto the grid.

NPM’s Data Center database, for instance, identified two planned data center developments in Luzerne County: the 960 MW Amazon-Cumulus Data Center campus and the 300 MW Northpoint-Project Hazelnut Data Center campus.

Utility deals

The regulatory hurdles to clear utility deals can be complicated and lengthy. The Minnesota PUC finally cleared ALLETE’s USD 6.2bn take private to Global Infrastructure Partners and CPP Investments this past October nearly 18 months after the deal was initially announced.

Publicly-traded TXNM Energy said on its recent 3Q25 earnings on October 31, that its USD 11.5bn take private transaction with Blackstone Infrastructure is not expected to occur until 2H26 after the deal was initially announced in May 2025 as it still needs to clear several state and federal agencies.