Energy Choice
                            

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CenterPoint Energy Unit To Acquire Retail Energy Business

January 29, 2016

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Copyright 2010-16 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Karen Abbott • kabbott@energychoicematters.com

CenterPoint Energy Services, Inc., an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc., and Continuum Energy, LLC, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Continuum Energy Services, LLC, announced that they have signed an agreement under which CenterPoint Energy Services will acquire Continuum's retail energy services business through the acquisition of Continuum Retail Energy Services, LLC, including its wholly-owned subsidiary Lakeshore Energy Services, LLC.

The acquisition also includes the natural gas wholesale assets of Continuum Energy Services, LLC.

The aggregate purchase price for the acquisition is $77.5 million plus working capital, subject to customary post-closing purchase price adjustments.

With the addition of these businesses, CenterPoint Energy Services would operate in 26 states and serve nearly 24,000 commercial and industrial customers and more than 65,000 individual choice customers.

The acquisition includes Continuum's:

• Retail business, which includes commercial and industrial transport customers in 25 states

• Choice customers in California, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio and Wyoming

• Origination and logistics segment, which optimizes transport and storage capacity through its retail segment

"With similar business models, customer-focus and risk management practices, this transaction positions CES to have access to more markets and efficiently grow our customer base, and we expect it to increase our total gross margin by 40 percent. This transaction is projected to be earnings per share accretive in 2016 and subsequent years," said Joe McGoldrick, executive vice president and president of CenterPoint Energy's Gas Division

CenterPoint Energy Services said that it and the Continuum businesses both operate with a low value-at-risk, mitigating potential high-risk exposure to gas price and supply market fluctuations. Their core functions are retail focused.

In 2014, CenterPoint Energy Services marketed approximately 600 billion cubic feet of natural gas and related energy services and transportation to approximately 18,000 commercial and industrial customers in 19 states. Continuum marketed nearly 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas, related energy services and transportation to nearly 6,000 commercial and industrial customers in 2014.

Continuum will continue to operate its midstream, crude oil logistics and producer services businesses primarily in the Mid-Continent, Appalachia, West Texas and New Mexico and the Utica with more than 1,000 miles of gathering pipeline, 656 million cubic feet system capacity and 44,000 horsepower of compression.

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