Brookfield Asset Management Ltd

. agreed to buy a 19.7 per cent stake in Duke Energy Corp.’s Florida utility for US$6 billion, a deal that will accelerate investment in the grid as the state’s population soars.

Brookfield, which is taking the non-controlling equity stake through its Super-Core Infrastructure strategy, will deploy the investment in an all-cash transaction through 2028, Duke Energy said in a statement Tuesday. The utility owner said it will increase its five-year spending plan in Florida by US$4 billion to US$16 billion through 2029.

Duke is the latest utility owner to sell a minority stake to a private equity firm. As

artificial intelligence

and the electrification of the economy send power consumption sharply higher, the deals allow utilities to raise spending on infrastructure without issuing new shares or boosting debt.

American Electric Power Co. sold an equity interest in its transmission business to KKR & Co. Inc. and Canada’s

PSP Investments

earlier this year, while FirstEnergy Corp. offloaded an additional stake in its transmission unit to a Brookfield affiliate in 2023.

“We are seeing this all over,” said Paul Patterson, an analyst for Glenrock Associates. There are “a lot of examples where investors outside the utility industry are taking ownership positions in utility properties. There are a few utilities who have found this alternative form of financing more attractive than selling equity or debt.”

Electricity

consumption is booming in the Sunshine State, which saw the fastest population growth in the United States last year after Texas. After a devastating hurricane season in 2024, Duke received approval from Florida regulators for US$1.1 billion in storm recovery costs. Last week, the utility owner also announced the sale of its Tennessee natural gas business to Spire Inc., a move to raise capital and focus on core regulated utility operations.

The transaction is expected to close in early 2026. The deal needs to be reviewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and potentially the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Duke shares rose 2.6 per cent at 9:33 a.m. in New York. The company said it will use some of the proceeds of the Brookfield deal to pay down debt and strengthen its credit profile.

Bloomberg.com