The sale agreement for the Piedmont Natural Gas Tennessee business includes nearly 3800 miles of distribution and transmission pipelines and a liquefied natural gas facility serving approximately 205 000 customers.

Duke Energy stands to gain $2.48 billion in cash with the sale of its Piedmont Natural Gas Tennessee local distribution company business to Spire Inc., one of the nation’s largest publicly traded natural gas companies.

With an announced $2.5 billion move, Spire continues a decade-plus run of predominantly fueling its expansion by buying gas utilities in the South.