National Grid completes KeySpan acquisition

NEW YORK (Reuters) - British power company National Grid (NG.L) said it would complete the acquisition of U.S. utility KeySpan Corp KSE.N on Friday after receiving final approval from New York State regulators earlier this week.

National Grid had announced plans to buy KeySpan, which delivers electricity to customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island, for more than $7 billion in cash in February of 2006.

It is the first large power company acquisition to close this year. Last year, a deal between Exelon Corp (EXC.N) and Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG.N) and another between Constellation Energy Group (CEG.N) and FPL Group Inc (FPL.N) fell apart due to regulatory and political issues.

(Reporting by Caroline Humer)