Shareholders of both NorthWestern Energy and Black Hills Corp. have voted to approve a proposed all-stock merger that would combine the two regional utilities into a new company called Bright Horizon Energy Corporation, the companies announced Thursday.
The votes were cast at special shareholder meetings held earlier in the day and mark a major step forward for a deal first announced Aug. 19, 2025. Once complete, the merger would create a regulated energy company serving customers across eight states.
NorthWestern Energy currently provides electricity and natural gas to approximately 850,300 customers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Yellowstone National Park. Black Hills Corp., headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota, serves roughly 1.35 million natural gas and electric customers across Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
For Montana customers and communities, the merger would bring their two largest energy providers under a single corporate umbrella, a consolidation that state regulators will have a significant say in before the deal can close.
Shareholder approval alone does not finalize the transaction. The merger still requires clearance from federal regulators under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as state-level approval in Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The companies said they expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2026.
Linn Evans, president and CEO of Black Hills Corp., said the vote validated the strategic case for combining the two companies, pointing to the scale and financial strength the combined entity would bring to energy service across the region. Brian Bird, president and CEO of NorthWestern Energy, described the two utilities as highly complementary and said the merger was positioned to deliver long-term value to customers, shareholders, and the communities both companies serve.
Detailed voting results from Thursday’s shareholder meetings will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission through Form 8-K disclosures by each company.