JUNO BEACH, Fla., Jan. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra
Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) today announced it has completed the
previously announced sale of FiberNet and its subsidiaries
(together, "FiberNet") to Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:
CCI) ("Crown Castle") for $1.5
billion in cash.
"We are pleased to have completed the sale of FiberNet to Crown
Castle," said Jim Robo, chairman and
chief executive officer of NextEra Energy. "As part of our strategy
to grow our long-term contracted and rate-regulated asset base,
this transaction enables us to recycle capital to focus on our core
businesses and support our overall credit position and strong
balance sheet."
A portion of the sale proceeds are expected to be used to retire
approximately $375 million principal
amount of FiberNet long-term debt, as well as to fund, in part, the
potential acquisition of Oncor. The impact of the gain on the sale
at the time of closing will be excluded from adjusted earnings. The
transaction, which was subject to receipt of regulatory approvals
and satisfaction of customary closing conditions, is accretive to
NextEra Energy earnings immediately upon closing.
UBS Investment Bank served as financial advisor to NextEra
Energy and Hogan Lovells served as legal counsel.
NextEra Energy, Inc.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy
company with consolidated revenues of approximately $17.5 billion and approximately 14,300 employees
in 27 states and Canada as of
year-end 2015, as well as approximately 45,000 megawatts of
generating capacity, which includes megawatts associated with
noncontrolling interests related to NextEra Energy Partners, LP
(NYSE: NEP) as of April 2016.
Headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla.,
NextEra Energy's principal subsidiaries are Florida Power & Light Company, which serves
more than 4.8 million customer accounts in Florida and is one of the largest
rate-regulated electric utilities in the
United States, and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which,
together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest
generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. Through its
subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free
electricity from eight commercial nuclear power units in
Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin. A Fortune 200 company and included
in the S&P 100 index, NextEra Energy has been recognized often
by third parties for its efforts in sustainability, corporate
responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity, and has been
ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in
Fortune's 2016 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." For more
information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites:
www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com,
www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Cautionary Statements and Risk Factors That May Affect Future
Results
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not
statements of historical facts, but instead represent the current
expectations of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NextEra Energy) and
Florida Power & Light Company
(FPL) regarding future operating results and other future events,
many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and
outside of NextEra Energy's and FPL's control.
Forward-looking statements in this press release include, among
others, statements concerning adjusted earnings per share
expectations and future operating performance, and statements
concerning future dividends. In some cases, you can identify
the forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as "will,"
"may result," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan,"
"seek," "aim," "potential," "projection," "forecast," "predict,"
"goals," "target," "outlook," "should," "would" or similar words or
expressions. You should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future
performance. The future results of NextEra Energy and FPL and their
business and financial condition are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause their actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking
statements, or may require them to limit or eliminate certain
operations. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to, the following: effects of extensive regulation of
NextEra Energy's and FPL's business operations; inability of
NextEra Energy and FPL to recover in a timely manner any
significant amount of costs, a return on certain assets or a
reasonable return on invested capital through base rates, cost
recovery clauses, other regulatory mechanisms or otherwise; impact
of political, regulatory and economic factors on regulatory
decisions important to NextEra Energy and FPL; disallowance of cost
recovery by FPL based on a finding of imprudent use of derivative
instruments; effect of any reductions to, or elimination of,
governmental incentives or policies that support utility scale
renewable energy projects of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC and its
affiliated entities (NextEra Energy Resources) or the imposition of
additional taxes or assessments on renewable energy; impact of new
or revised laws, regulations, interpretations or other regulatory
initiatives on NextEra Energy and FPL; effect on NextEra Energy and
FPL of potential regulatory action to broaden the scope of
regulation of over-the-counter (OTC) financial derivatives and to
apply such regulation to NextEra Energy and FPL; capital
expenditures, increased operating costs and various liabilities
attributable to environmental laws, regulations and other standards
applicable to NextEra Energy and FPL; effects on NextEra Energy and
FPL of federal or state laws or regulations mandating new or
additional limits on the production of greenhouse gas emissions;
exposure of NextEra Energy and FPL to significant and increasing
compliance costs and substantial monetary penalties and other
sanctions as a result of extensive federal regulation of their
operations; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of changes in tax laws
and in judgments and estimates used to determine tax-related asset
and liability amounts; impact on NextEra Energy and FPL of adverse
results of litigation; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of failure
to proceed with projects under development or inability to complete
the construction of (or capital improvements to) electric
generation, transmission and distribution facilities, gas
infrastructure facilities or other facilities on schedule or within
budget; impact on development and operating activities of NextEra
Energy and FPL resulting from risks related to project siting,
financing, construction, permitting, governmental approvals and the
negotiation of project development agreements; risks involved in
the operation and maintenance of electric generation, transmission
and distribution facilities, gas infrastructure facilities and
other facilities; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of a lack of
growth or slower growth in the number of customers or in customer
usage; impact on NextEra Energy and FPL of severe weather and other
weather conditions; threats of terrorism and catastrophic events
that could result from terrorism, cyber attacks or other attempts
to disrupt NextEra Energy's and FPL's business or the businesses of
third parties; inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage for
protection of NextEra Energy and FPL against significant losses and
risk that insurance coverage does not provide protection against
all significant losses; a prolonged period of low gas and oil
prices could impact NextEra Energy Resources' gas infrastructure
business and cause NextEra Energy Resources to delay or cancel
certain gas infrastructure projects and for certain existing
projects to be impaired; risk to NextEra Energy Resources of
increased operating costs resulting from unfavorable supply costs
necessary to provide NextEra Energy Resources' full energy and
capacity requirement services; inability or failure by NextEra
Energy Resources to manage properly or hedge effectively the
commodity risk within its portfolio; potential volatility of
NextEra Energy's results of operations caused by sales of power on
the spot market or on a short-term contractual basis; effect of
reductions in the liquidity of energy markets on NextEra Energy's
ability to manage operational risks; effectiveness of NextEra
Energy's and FPL's risk management tools associated with their
hedging and trading procedures to protect against significant
losses, including the effect of unforeseen price variances from
historical behavior; impact of unavailability or disruption of
power transmission or commodity transportation facilities on sale
and delivery of power or natural gas by FPL and NextEra Energy
Resources; exposure of NextEra Energy and FPL to credit and
performance risk from customers, hedging counterparties and
vendors; failure of NextEra Energy or FPL counterparties to perform
under derivative contracts or of requirement for NextEra Energy or
FPL to post margin cash collateral under derivative contracts;
failure or breach of NextEra Energy's or FPL's information
technology systems; risks to NextEra Energy and FPL's retail
businesses from compromise of sensitive customer data; losses from
volatility in the market values of derivative instruments and
limited liquidity in OTC markets; impact of negative publicity;
inability of NextEra Energy and FPL to maintain, negotiate or
renegotiate acceptable franchise agreements with municipalities and
counties in Florida; increasing
costs of health care plans; lack of a qualified workforce or the
loss or retirement of key employees; occurrence of work strikes or
stoppages and increasing personnel costs; NextEra Energy's ability
to successfully identify, complete and integrate acquisitions,
including the effect of increased competition for acquisitions;
NextEra Energy Partners, LP's (NEP's) acquisitions may not be
completed and, even if completed, NextEra Energy may not realize
the anticipated benefits of any acquisitions; environmental, health
and financial risks associated with NextEra Energy's and FPL's
ownership and operation of nuclear generation facilities; liability
of NextEra Energy and FPL for significant retrospective assessments
and/or retrospective insurance premiums in the event of an incident
at certain nuclear generation facilities; increased operating and
capital expenditures at nuclear generation facilities of NextEra
Energy or FPL resulting from orders or new regulations of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission; inability to operate any of NextEra
Energy Resources' or FPL's owned nuclear generation units through
the end of their respective operating licenses; liability of
NextEra Energy and FPL for increased nuclear licensing or
compliance costs resulting from hazards, and increased public
attention to hazards, posed to their owned nuclear generation
facilities; risks associated with outages of NextEra Energy's and
FPL's owned nuclear units; effect of disruptions, uncertainty or
volatility in the credit and capital markets on NextEra Energy's
and FPL's ability to fund their liquidity and capital needs and
meet their growth objectives; inability of NextEra Energy, FPL and
NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc. to maintain their current
credit ratings; impairment of NextEra Energy's and FPL's liquidity
from inability of credit providers to fund their credit commitments
or to maintain their current credit ratings; poor market
performance and other economic factors that could affect NextEra
Energy's defined benefit pension plan's funded status; poor market
performance and other risks to the asset values of NextEra Energy's
and FPL's nuclear decommissioning funds; changes in market value
and other risks to certain of NextEra Energy's investments; effect
of inability of NextEra Energy subsidiaries to pay upstream
dividends or repay funds to NextEra Energy or of NextEra Energy's
performance under guarantees of subsidiary obligations on NextEra
Energy's ability to meet its financial obligations and to pay
dividends on its common stock; the fact that the amount and timing
of dividends payable on NextEra Energy's common stock, as well as
the dividend policy approved by NextEra Energy's board of directors
from time to time, and changes to that policy, are within the sole
discretion of NextEra Energy's board of directors and, if declared
and paid, dividends may be in amounts that are less than might be
expected by shareholders; NEP's inability to access sources of
capital on commercially reasonable terms could have an effect on
its ability to consummate future acquisitions and on the value of
NextEra Energy's limited partner interest in NextEra Energy
Operating Partners, LP; and effects of disruptions, uncertainty or
volatility in the credit and capital markets on the market price of
NextEra Energy's common stock. NextEra Energy and FPL discuss these
and other risks and uncertainties in their annual report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31,
2015 and other SEC filings, and this news release should be
read in conjunction with such SEC filings made through the date of
this news release. The forward-looking statements made in this news
release are made only as of the date of this news release and
NextEra Energy and FPL undertake no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE NextEra Energy, Inc.