Dominion Completes Acquisition of Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas.Business Editors RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 2001 Dominion dominion, power to rule, or that which is subject to rule. Before 1949 the term was used officially to describe the self-governing countries of the Commonwealth of Nations—e.g., Canada, Australia, or India. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :D) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corp. Thos. E. Capps, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said: "We're very pleased with the quick pace of this transaction. It reflects the strong strategic fit and economic common sense this acquisition represents for Dominion. We expect to integrate Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas operations quickly into our own exploration and production business and begin putting these assets to work for Dominion's bottom line." Dominion announced in September that it would acquire Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas for $2.3 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt. The acquisition increases Dominion's proved reserves proved reserves The quantity of minerals expected to be recoverable under current economic and operating conditions. The amount of proved reserves is important in valuing the stock of a company with significant holdings in natural resources. by more than 60 percent, to more than 4.6 trillion cubic feet equivalent, and increases its production by more than 40 percent, to more than 450 billion cubic feet annually. The addition of Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas also expands Dominion's fast growing energy trading business. When added to Dominion's existing 22,000-megawatt electric generation portfolio, the acquisition boosts Dominion's daily energy production capability to more than 3 trillion Btu's. Over the next three years, Dominion, already one of the nation's largest traders of gas and electricity, expects the acquisition to help double its energy trading and sales volumes over 2000 levels. The company expects gas trading volumes Trading volume The number of shares transacted every day. As there is a seller for every buyer, one can think of the trading volume as half of the number of shares transacted. That is, if A sells 100 shares to B, the volume is 100 shares. to increase from 1.2 trillion to 2.4 trillion cubic feet annually and electricity trading volumes to increase from 136 million megawatt-hours to 265 million megawatt-hours annually. As part of the acquisition, Consolidated Natural Gas Co. (CNG CNG Compressed Natural Gas CNG Calling (Tone) CNG Comfort Noise Generation CNG Cryptography Next Generation (Microsoft Windows Vista) CNG Centre National de Génotypage ), a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Dominion, will guarantee the existing public debt of Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas. Under the transaction's legal structure, the successor to Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas is now a subsidiary of CNG. CNG's senior unsecured debt Unsecured debt Debt that does not identify specific assets that the debtholder is entitled to in case of default. is rated BBB BBB A medium grade assigned to a debt obligation by a rating agency to indicate an adequate ability to pay interest and repay principal. However, adverse developments are more likely to impair this ability than would be the case for bonds rated A and above. + by Standard & Poor's and A3 by Moody's. Dominion, headquartered in Richmond, Va., is one of the nation's largest producers of energy. Its generation portfolio is expected to grow to more than 28,000 megawatts by 2005. In addition to its natural gas reserves and production, Dominion also owns and operates 7,600 miles of transmission pipeline with a delivery capability of 6.3 billion cubic feet per day. The company also operates the nation's largest underground gas storage system, with more than 950 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. Dominion serves nearly 4 million retail gas and electric customers in fives states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's web site at www.dom.com. |
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