CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Natural
Gas (NYSE: PNY) today announced an additional $22.5 million cash contribution to its existing
investment in SouthStar Energy Services, a joint venture with AGL
Resources (NYSE: GAS). The additional investment, effective
September 1, maintains Piedmont's 15 percent ownership level in
SouthStar, which markets and sells unregulated retail natural gas
to customers in the southeastern United
States, as well as Ohio,
New York and Maryland.
Simultaneous with the cash contribution by Piedmont, AGL Resources will contribute to
SouthStar the unregulated retail natural gas customer accounts and
related assets it acquired from Nicor Inc. in December, 2011 and
the unregulated retail natural gas customer accounts it acquired in
a separate transaction in June 2013,
both in Illinois. The addition of
this Illinois book of business to
SouthStar's market footprint will expand the retail energy
marketer's customer base by approximately 108,000 customers.
Thomas E. Skains, Piedmont
Natural Gas' Chairman, President, and CEO, commented on the
Company's additional investment, "We believe the expansion of
SouthStar's customer base into the Illinois markets is a logical extension of the
venture's retail natural gas marketing business. We expect
our investment to be accretive to shareholders by $.02 - .03 per share in fiscal year 2014."
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains
forward-looking statements. These statements are based on
management's current expectations and information currently
available and are believed to be reasonable and are made in good
faith. However, the forward-looking statements are subject to
future events, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in
the statements. Factors that may make the actual results differ
from anticipated results include, but are not limited to, weather
conditions, rate of customer growth, the cost and availability of
natural gas, competition from other energy providers, new
legislation and regulations and application of existing laws and
regulations, economic and capital market conditions and other
uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and some of
which are beyond our control. For these reasons, you should not
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements when
making investment decisions. The words "expect," "believe,"
"project," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "could,"
"assume," "can," "estimate," "forecast," "future," "indicate,"
"outlook," "plan," "predict," "seek," "target," "would,"
"guidance," and variations of such words and similar expressions
are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made
and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statement, either as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. More information about the risks and
uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements may be
found in Piedmont's latest Forms
10-K and 10-Q, which are available on the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov
About Piedmont Natural Gas
Piedmont Natural Gas is an
energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of
natural gas to more than one million residential, commercial,
industrial and power generation utility customers in portions of
North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including customers served by
municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are
invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including
unregulated retail natural gas marketing, and regulated interstate
natural gas transportation and storage and intrastate natural gas
transportation businesses. More information about Piedmont Natural
Gas is available on the Internet at http://www.piedmontng.com/.
SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas