After receiving approval on July 17 from the Missouri Public Service Commission, Laclede Group (NYSE: LG) announced today it has completed the $975 million acquisition of Missouri Gas Energy, or MGE, from a subsidiary of master limited partnership Energy Transfer Partners (ETP). The deal became final Sept. 1, according to Laclede's statement, and will be accretive to fiscal 2014 net earnings.
With the acquisition complete, Laclede said it is now "the largest natural gas distribution company in Missouri, now serving more than 1.1 million natural gas customers." President and CEO of Laclede Suzanne Sitherwood said, "We've been working on the integration of the two companies since last year, and we are now fully ready to complete a seamless transition as we welcome Missouri Gas Energy employees and customers into the Laclede family."
The sale of MGE, along with Energy Transfer Partners' pending $60 million (less debt) sale of its New England Gas division, "is another important step in ETP's efforts to streamline and integrate its asset portfolio through the divestiture of non-core assets," the company said in its statement.
