The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that Atco began with over a dozen utility trailers and $1,077 in revenues, betting on the work site needs of Alberta's first oil boom. The Post's Steven Wilhelm and Chris Varcoe write that nearly eight decades later, the Calgary company is preparing for its biggest transformation yet. Atco's utility business is merging with Halifax-based Emera in a deal set to form one of North America's largest utility companies, valued at $72-billion. The deal, which the two parties called the largest of its kind in Canadian history, will see Atco's remaining businesses spun out into a new publicly traded company, with Nancy Southern remaining chief executive officer. Founded in 1947 by Donald Southern and his son Ron, who was 17 at the time, Atco grew rapidly alongside the success of its modular housing business. In 1980, Atco bought Canadian Utilities from U.S.-based International Utilities, returning it to Canadian ownership. That part of Atco -- now valued at $14-billion -- will flip hands again under the merger with Emera. Ms. Southern says the much larger company, under the corporate name Emera, will become a "true Canadian champion" with greater geographic diversity and scale.