CenterPoint Energy agreed to sell its Ohio local natural gas distribution business to National Fuel Gas Co. in Western New York for $2.62 billion.
National Fuel said Tuesday the acquired assets include about 5,900 miles of transmission and distribution pipeline in Ohio serving roughly 335,000 residential, commercial, industrial and transportation customers that consume 60 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year.
CenterPoint Chairman and CEO Jason Wells said Tuesday that the sale of Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio supports the Houston utility’s 10-year capital plan to optimize its portfolio of operations and put more than $2 billion back into other electric and natural gas businesses.
National Fuel President and CEO David P. Bauer said the acquisition aligns with the company’s “strategic objective to increase the scale of our regulated operations through the addition of high-quality assets in a favorable regulatory and political jurisdiction.”
CenterPoint said it expects to receive $1.42 billion in 2026 and $1.2 billion in 2027. National Fuel, which expects the acquisition to immediately add to earnings, obtained a committed bridge facility for the purchase from Toronto-Dominion Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. TD Securities served as exclusive M&A advisor while TD and Wells Fargo are acting as financing advisors to National Fuel. Goldman Sachs and Guggenheim Securities are CenterPoint’s financial advisors.
Jones Day is providing outside legal counsel to National Fuel led by Jeff Schlegel in Houston.
CenterPoint’s legal team includes Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Barnes & Thornburg; Bricker Graydon; and Whitt Sturtevant.
Gibson Dunn partners Alexander Fine (Washington/New York), James Springer (Washington D.C.), Gerry Spedale (Houston) and Hillary Holmes (Houston/Dallas) led that firm’s involvement with help from Paul Lee and Ann-Marie Harrelson in D.C. and Alex Prezioso in NYC.
Other Gibson Dunn Lawyers included Shalla Prichard (Houston), Ryan Searfoorce (Houston), Pamela Lawrence Endreny (New York), Gregory Nelson (Houston), Hayden Theis (Houston), Kate Napalkova (New York), William Hollaway (Washington, D.C.), Tory Lauterbach (Washington D.C.), Janine Durand (Washington, D.C.), Sophia Hansell (Washington, D.C.), Alexander Merritt (Washington D.C.), Daniel Angel (New York), Andrew Hartman (New York).