SAN DIEGO, April 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra U.S.
Gas & Power, a unit of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), today
announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell
EnergySouth, Inc. (EnergySouth), the parent company of Mobile Gas
Service Corp. (Mobile Gas) and Willmut Gas & Oil Company
(Willmut Gas), to The Laclede Group, Inc. (NYSE: LG). Cash proceeds
to Sempra U.S. Gas & Power are expected to be
approximately $323 million, subject
to normal adjustments at close, and The Laclede Group, Inc. will
assume existing debt of approximately $67
million. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power expects to record a
gain on the sale upon closing.
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory
approvals. At close of the transaction, EnergySouth will
consist of only Mobile Gas and Willmut Gas, and will not include
Bay Gas Storage Company, Mississippi Hub, LLC, Liberty Gas Storage
or Southern Gas Transmission, which will be retained by Sempra U.S.
Gas & Power.
"We are very proud of the strong operating and safety
performance of our teams at Mobile Gas and Willmut Gas," said
Patti Wagner, president and CEO of
Sempra U.S. Gas & Power. "After careful consideration of our
natural gas assets, we have entered into this agreement to sell our
two southeast utilities to Laclede. We believe we can productively
redeploy the proceeds from the sale into long-term growth
opportunities that meet our strategy. Additionally, I want to thank
each employee of Mobile Gas and Willmut Gas for their
continued hard work and commitment in providing safe and reliable
natural gas service to residential, commercial, and industrial
customers in Alabama and
Mississippi."
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as financial advisor and Latham
& Watkins LLP acted as legal counsel for Sempra U.S. Gas &
Power.
Sempra U.S. Gas & Power acquired EnergySouth in 2008 and
Willmut Gas in 2012.
Mobile Gas provides service to about 85,000 residential,
commercial and industrial customers in Mobile and Baldwin counties in southwest Alabama.
Willmut Gas provides service to about 19,000 residential,
commercial and industrial customers in greater Hattiesburg (which includes portions of
Forrest and Lamar Counties) as well as portions of
Covington, Jones, Simpson and Rankin Counties.
Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC is a leading developer of
renewable energy and natural gas projects. For more information,
visit www.SempraUSGP.com. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power is a
subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500
energy services holding company with 2015 revenues of
$10 billion. The Sempra Energy
companies' 17,000 employees serve more than 32 million consumers
worldwide.
This press release contains statements that are not
historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements can be identified by words like
"believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates,"
"projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "intends," "assumes,"
"depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may,"
"potential," "possible," "proposed," "target,"
"pursue," "goals," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions or
discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities,
projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance.
They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future
results may differ materially from those expressed in the
forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon various
assumptions involving judgments with respect to the future and
other risks, including, among others: local, regional,
national and international economic, competitive, political,
legislative, legal and regulatory conditions, decisions and
developments; actions and the timing of actions, including general
rate case decisions, new regulations, issuances of permits to
construct, operate and maintain facilities and equipment and use
land, franchise agreements and licenses for operation, by the
California Public Utilities Commission, California State
Legislature, U.S. Department of Energy, California Division of Oil,
Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, California Energy
Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, California Air Resources
Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Mexican
Competition Commission, cities and counties, and other regulatory,
governmental and environmental bodies in the United
States and other countries in which we operate; the timing and
success of business development efforts and construction,
maintenance and capital projects, including risks in obtaining,
maintaining or extending permits, licenses, certificates and other
authorizations on a timely basis and risks in obtaining adequate
and competitive financing for such projects; deviations from
regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of
benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers, and delays
in regulatory agency authorization to recover costs in rates from
customers; the availability of electric power, natural gas and
liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage
capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the North
American transmission grid, moratoriums on the ability to withdraw
natural gas from or inject natural gas into storage facilities,
pipeline explosions and equipment failures; energy markets; the
timing and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices;
and the impact on the value of our natural gas storage assets from
low natural gas prices, low volatility of natural gas prices and
the inability to procure favorable long-term contracts for natural
gas storage services; the resolution of civil and criminal
litigation and regulatory investigations; risks posed by decisions
and actions of third parties who control the operations of
investments in which we do not have a controlling interest, and
risks that our partners or counterparties will be unable or
unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments; capital
markets conditions, including the availability of credit and the
liquidity of our investments, and inflation, interest and currency
exchange rates; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, natural
gas storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and
systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of
our proprietary information and the personal information of our
customers and employees; terrorist attacks that threaten system
operations and critical infrastructure; and wars; the ability to
win competitively bid infrastructure projects against a number of
strong competitors willing to aggressively bid for these projects;
weather conditions, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents,
equipment failures and other events that may disrupt our
operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of
greenhouse gasses, radioactive materials and harmful emissions, and
subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal
injuries, some of which may not be covered by insurance;
disallowance of regulatory assets associated with, or
decommissioning costs of, the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
facility due to increased regulatory oversight, including motions
to modify settlements; expropriation of assets by foreign
governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on
reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E)
electric transmission and distribution system due to increased
amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy
sources and increased reliance on natural gas and natural gas
transmission systems; the impact on competitive customer rates of
the growth in distributed and local power generation and the
corresponding decrease in demand for power delivered through
SDG&E's electric transmission and distribution system; the
inability or determination not to enter into long-term supply and
sales agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements due to
insufficient market interest, unattractive pricing or other
factors; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to
predict and many of which are beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the
reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR
system free-of-charge on the SEC's
website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's
website at www.sempra.com. Investors should
not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and
the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these
forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Sempra International, LLC, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC,
and Sempra Partners, LP, are not the same companies as
the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric
(SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and
Sempra International, LLC, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC, and
Sempra Partners, LP, are not regulated by the California Public
Utilities Commission. Sempra International's underlying entities
include Sempra Mexico and Sempra South American Utilities. Sempra
U.S. Gas & Power's underlying entities include Sempra
Renewables and Sempra Natural Gas.
Media Contacts:
|
Steve Schooff
|
|
Sempra U.S. Gas &
Power
|
|
(877)
855-7887
|
|
www.semprausgp.com
|
|
|
Financial
Contact:
|
Kendall
Helm
|
|
Sempra
Energy
|
|
(877)
696-2461
|
|
Investor@Sempra.com
|
Logo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120103/LA29138LOGO
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sempra-us-gas--power-to-sell-parent-company-of-mobile-gas-and-willmut-gas-300257305.html
SOURCE Sempra U.S. Gas & Power