On Monday utility and midstream giant Dominion announced it would offer 25 million “equity units” at a price of $50 for each unit. They hope to raise $1.25 billion “for general corporate purposes, including the buyout of Questar Corporation (see Dominion’s Quest to Buy Questar for $4.4B Advances). What the heck is an equity unit? Dominion says, “Each equity unit will be issued in a stated amount of $50 and will consist of a contract to purchase common stock in the future and two 1/40 undivided beneficial ownership interests in remarketable subordinated notes each having a principal amount of $1,000.” Huh? It sounds to us like Dominion is selling a financial instrument that will (POOF) turn into a stock at some point in the future. We call it a “future stock.” Dominion issued a pair of press releases about the plan–one on Monday and another on Wednesday. Here’s what they said…
