Bismarck-based MDU Resources Company is spinning off its Knife River Corporation into a separate company.
Knife River is a construction materials and contracting firm.
"We're going to create two public companies from one," MDU Resources President and CEO Dave Goodin said in an interview.
Goodin said this decision came after an assessment of the business. He said Knife River is of sufficient size and scale to be its own company.
"We feel that, by doing it, we'll actually unlock significant value," Goodin said. "We'll have a very focused business, in the heavy materials and construction business that Knife River is today."
The second company will continue to be known as MDU Resources.
"That will continue to be our electric and gas utility business, our interstate natural gas pipeline business, in the form of WBI," Goodin said. "And we also have another construction related business that actually started out of our utility business — we call that 'construction services.'"
That change will likely come in 2023.
How does this affect shareholders?
"The shareholder, the day before the transaction is finalized, will have a share of MDU, and the next day will also have a share of the new company," Goodin said. "They will still own virtually the same assets, liabilities and business lines, but it has been divided between the two businesses."
MDU Resources employs 16,500 people. Of that number, 5700 are with Knife River.
