Global Water Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: GWRS) said its shares stay static in Monday’s first hour, after the pure-play water resource management company, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Farmers Water Co., a subsidiary of Farmers Investment Co. (FICO), located in Pima County, Arizona.
The acquisition, if completed, would add approximately 3,300 active water service connections and an approximate 21.5 square miles of Certificate of Convenience and Necessity service area in Sahuarita and surrounding unincorporated Pima County.
The primarily residential connections are in close proximity to the service areas of Global Water’s recently acquired Las Quintas Serenas, Francesca, Mirabell, and Red Rock water companies. All of these areas fall within the Arizona Sun Corridor, a megaregion that is expected to double in population by 2040. Global Water plans to retain all Farmers Water employees and maintain a local customer service center.
“Global Water will work closely with FICO and the community to bring this utility into our family of companies and address its future infrastructure and water service requirements for supporting growth and economic development,” stated the company’s president and CEO, Ron Fleming.
Upon closing, Farmers Water will represent Global Water’s seventh acquisition in Pima County and its second in the Town of Sahuarita, including the adjacent Las Quintas Serenas water utility it acquired in November 2021.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023 and is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.
GWRS shares were unchanged to open Monday at $15.51.