Quanta Services Inc., a Houston-based utility contractor, announced on Sept. 3 it will acquire Price Gregory Services Inc., a privately held natural-gas and oil transmission pipeline infrastructure contractor, also based in Houston. Quanta says it will pay $350 million in cash and stock in the transaction. Quanta plans to issue about 11.1 million shares of its common stock, which the company values at $250 million, and pay about $100 million in cash to Price Gregory stockholders. Quanta ranked No. 2 on ENR’s Top 600 Specialty Contractors list in 2008. Price Gregory says it had $1.41 billion in revenue in 2008 and claims to be the largest pipeline construction contractor in North America. “While demand for transmission pipeline construction has recently been impacted by the recession and low natural-gas and oil prices, substantial growth is projected over the next decade as domestic natural gas plays a larger role in meeting this country’s energy independence and clean-energy goals,” says Quanta CEO John Colson.