CLEVELAND, Oct. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gas Natural
Inc. (NYSE MKT: EGAS) ("Gas Natural" or the "Company"), a holding
company operating local natural gas utilities serving approximately
68,000 customers in four states, today announced that it has closed
a $92 million debt refinancing
following receipt of regulatory approvals to reorganize its
utilities within a wholly-owned subsidiary.
James E. Sprague, Chief Financial
Officer of Gas Natural, commented, "The completion of the
refinancing is a major milestone in our strategy to improve the
operational and financial structure of the Company. It
provides for greater financial flexibility, access to capital for
all of our utilities and simplifies our lending agreements."
The changes to the Company's corporate structure facilitated the
financing and provide greater transparency for the regulators of
the natural gas utility operations in its four regulatory
jurisdictions. A new wholly-owned subsidiary now holds its
eight regulated entities, separating them from the Company's
non-regulated operations.
The financing consists of two components:
- A $50 million, 4.23% fixed-rate
senior, unsecured, twelve-year term note due October 2028, held by TIAA-CREF.
- A $42 million unsecured revolving
credit facility held by Bank of America, N.A., with a five year
maturity due October 2021. This
facility incurs variable interest on a grid structure, based on the
Company's leverage ratio.
The new financing facilities allowed the Company to retire its
debt with Allstate/CUNA, Sun Life and NIL Funding, as well as
provide additional capital to support continued execution of its
growth strategy.
About Gas Natural Inc.
Gas Natural Inc., a holding
company, distributes and sells natural gas to residential,
commercial, and industrial customers. It distributes
approximately 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas to roughly
68,000 customers through regulated utilities operating in
Montana, Ohio, Maine
and North Carolina. The Company's other operations include
intrastate pipeline, natural gas production and natural gas
marketing. The Company's Montana public utility was originally
incorporated in 1909. Its strategy for growth is to expand
throughput in its markets, while looking for acquisitions that are
either adjacent to its existing utilities or in underserved
markets. Gas Natural Inc. regularly posts information on its
website at www.egas.net.
Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
The Company is including the following
cautionary statement in this release to make applicable, and to
take advantage of, the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for any forward-looking
statements made by, or on behalf of, Gas Natural Inc.
Forward-looking statements are all statements other than statements
of historical fact, including, without limitation, those that are
identified by the use of the words "anticipates," "estimates,"
"expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "may,"
"will" and similar expressions. Such statements are
inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed. Factors that may affect forward-looking statements
and the Company's business generally include, but are not limited
to the Company's he Company's ability to grow its customer base and
consummate additional acquisitions; the Company's continued ability
to make dividend payments; the Company's ability to implement its
business plan, grow earnings and improve returns on investment;
fluctuating energy commodity prices; the possibility that
regulators may not permit the Company to pass through all of its
increased costs to its customers; changes in the utility regulatory
environment; wholesale and retail competition; the Company's
ability to satisfy its debt obligations, including compliance with
financial covenants; weather conditions; litigation risks; and
various other matters, many of which are beyond the Company's
control; the risk factors and cautionary statements made in the
Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "SEC"); and other factors that the Company is
currently unable to identify or quantify, but may exist in the
future. Gas Natural Inc. expressly undertakes no obligation
to update or revise any forward-looking statement contained herein
to reflect any change in Gas Natural Inc.'s expectations with
regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances
on which any such statement is based Additional factors that
may affect the future results of the Company are set forth in its
filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2015 and
recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form
8-K filed with the SEC, which are available on the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date thereof.
For more
information, contact
|
Gas Natural
Inc.
|
Investor
Relations
|
James E. Sprague,
Chief Financial Officer
|
Deborah K. Pawlowski
or Karen L. Howard, Kei Advisors LLC
|
Phone: (216)
202-1564
|
Phone: (716)
843-3908 / (716) 843-3942
|
Email:
jsprague@egas.net
|
Email:
dpawlowski@keiadvisors.com / khoward@keiadvisors.com
|
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SOURCE Gas Natural Inc.