Finance History | 222 West Washington Avenue — Three Utility Books Became Interstate Energy on a Tuesday

People treat Alliant Energy as a Madison utility ticker and a name on a coliseum.

The listed company was assembled from three older books after twenty-nine months of regulatory files.

On 21 April 1998 WPL Holdings, IES Industries, and Interstate Power Company closed a three-way merger.

WPL Holdings survived as Interstate Energy Corporation and did business as Alliant. The common stock kept the ticker LNT.

Each IES common share became 1.14 Interstate Energy shares. Each Interstate Power share became 1.11 shares. WPL Holdings shares stayed outstanding and were simply renamed.

The deal was accounted for as a pooling of interests, so the three histories were restated as one set of numbers rather than written up as a purchase.

Wisconsin Power and Light, IES Utilities, and Interstate Power became the operating utilities under the new holding company.

Shareowner records sat in Madison. The 1998 worldwide headquarters address was 222 West Washington Avenue, a ten-story office a block west of Capitol Square.

The building still stands. The tenant list has changed. Alliant later moved its campus to the city's north side.

The mechanism was a registered public-utility holding company built for a market that state commissions were opening to competition. Rate freezes were part of the price of approval.

The pin is the public sidewalk on West Washington. The interiors are private offices.

Photo: Warren LeMay, 22 September 2022, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Capitol Square, one block east of the 1998 Alliant office.