CAYCE, S.C., Dec. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SCANA Corporation
(NYSE: SCG) announced today that it has signed agreements for the
sale of Carolina Gas Transmission Corporation (CGT) and SCANA
Communications, Inc. (SCI) to Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE:
D) and Spirit Communications (privately held by a group of
independent telephone companies in South
Carolina), respectively, in transactions valued at
approximately $650 million in
total. CGT is SCANA's FERC-regulated open access,
transportation-only interstate pipeline company whose system
consists of approximately 1,500 miles of pipe measuring up to 24
inches in diameter operating in South
Carolina and southeastern Georgia. SCI owns and
operates a 1,125 mile fiber optic telecommunications network and
Ethernet network and provides tower site construction, management
and rental services in South
Carolina, North Carolina
and Tennessee. Both of these transactions, which are subject
to customary closing conditions, are expected to close in the first
quarter of 2015.
"In recent years, we have focused our efforts on the delivery of
energy-related products and services through the core retail
businesses of our company," said Kevin
Marsh, SCANA's Chief Executive Officer. "While CGT and
SCI have been very successful members of the SCANA portfolio, they
are principally wholesale operations and comprise approximately 2%
of our total assets. These transactions will further confirm our
commitment to serving our retail customers."
Marsh added, "Once we decided to pursue divestiture, we made it
central to our strategy to retain as many jobs as possible in the
local market. We are very pleased that the employees of CGT will be
retained by Dominion and most of SCI's will be offered jobs with
Spirit. We also negotiated a three-year rate moratorium with
Dominion so that CGT's transportation rates will not increase
during this period."
"We are very pleased with these transactions, as the results
will yield significant value for our existing shareholders," said
Jimmy Addison, SCANA's Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "We expect
aggregate proceeds, net of income taxes, to be in excess of
$400 million. Once the net
proceeds have been deployed to displace previously planned equity
issuances, the transactions will be accretive to earnings."
As a result of these sales, the $325
million in equity issuances which were expected to occur
during 2015, including $100 million
from SCANA's dividend reinvestment plan and its employee 401(k)
plan, will be eliminated from the Company's financing plan.
It is also anticipated that the equity financing previously planned
for 2016 will be eliminated. Following the closing of these
transactions, SCANA's dividend reinvestment program and its
employee 401(k) plan will fulfill their requirements for SCANA
common stock with open market purchases. As the
Company's future equity needs dictate, the dividend reinvestment
program and 401(k) plan will return to their practice of purchasing
original issuance SCANA common shares.
RBC Capital Markets LLC is serving as the exclusive financial
advisor to SCANA on the sale of CGT and Stephens Inc. is serving as
the exclusive financial advisor to SCANA on the sale of
SCI.
PROFILE
SCANA Corporation, headquartered in
Cayce, S.C., is an energy-based
holding company principally engaged, through subsidiaries, in
electric and natural gas utility operations and other
energy-related businesses. The Company serves approximately 686,000
electric customers in South
Carolina and approximately 1.3 million natural gas customers
in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Information about SCANA and its
businesses is available on the Company's website at
www.scana.com.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
Statements included in
this press release which are not statements of historical fact are
intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking
statements" for purposes of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, statements concerning key earnings
drivers, customer growth, environmental regulations and
expenditures, leverage ratio, projections for pension fund
contributions, financing activities, access to sources of capital,
impacts of the adoption of new accounting rules and estimated
construction and other expenditures. In some cases, forward-looking
statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will,"
"could," "should," "expects," "forecasts," "plans," "anticipates,"
"believes," "estimates," "projects," "predicts," "potential" or
"continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar
terminology. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a
number of risks and uncertainties, and that actual results could
differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) the
information is of a preliminary nature and may be subject to
further and/or continuing review and adjustment; (2)
regulatory actions, particularly changes in rate regulation,
regulations governing electric grid reliability and pipeline
integrity, environmental regulations, and actions affecting the
construction of new nuclear units; (3) current and future
litigation; (4) changes in the economy, especially in areas served
by subsidiaries of SCANA; (5) the impact of competition from other
energy suppliers, including competition from alternate fuels in
industrial markets; (6) the impact of conservation and demand side
management efforts and/or technological advances on customer usage;
(7) the loss of sales to distributed generation, such as solar
photovoltaic systems; (8) growth opportunities for SCANA's
regulated and diversified subsidiaries; (9) the results of short-
and long-term financing efforts, including prospects for
obtaining access to capital markets and other sources of liquidity;
(10) the effects of weather, especially in areas where the
generation and transmission facilities of SCANA and its
subsidiaries (the Company) are located and in areas served by
SCANA's subsidiaries; (11) changes in SCANA's or its subsidiaries'
accounting rules and accounting policies; (12) payment and
performance by counterparties and customers as contracted and when
due; (13) the results of efforts to license, site, construct and
finance facilities for electric generation and transmission; (14)
maintaining creditworthy joint owners for SCE&G's new nuclear
generation project; (15) the ability of suppliers, both domestic
and international, to timely provide the labor, secure processes,
components, parts, tools, equipment and other supplies needed, at
agreed upon prices, for our construction program, operations and
maintenance; (16) the results of efforts to ensure the physical and
cyber security of key assets and processes; (17) the availability
of fuels such as coal, natural gas and enriched uranium used to
produce electricity; the availability of purchased power and
natural gas for distribution; the level and volatility of future
market prices for such fuels and purchased power; and the ability
to recover the costs for such fuels and purchased power; (18) the
availability of skilled and experienced human resources to properly
manage, operate, and grow the Company's businesses; (19) labor
disputes; (20) performance of SCANA's pension plan assets; (21)
changes in taxes and tax credits, including production tax credits
for the new nuclear units; (22) inflation or deflation; (23)
compliance with regulations; (24) natural disasters and man-made
mishaps that directly affect our operations or the regulations
governing them; and (25) the other risks and uncertainties
described from time to time in the periodic reports filed by SCANA
or SCE&G with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission. The Company disclaims any obligation to update
any forward-looking statements.
Media
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Analyst
Contacts:
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Eric
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Christina
Putnam
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Susan
Wright
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(803)
217-7701
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(803)
217-7512
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(803)
217-4436
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SOURCE SCANA Corporation