Essential Utilities’ Aqua Texas Subsidiary Signs Agreement of Sale to Acquire Southern Oaks
February 07 2022 - 12:41PM
Business Wire
Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE: WTRG) today announced that its
regulated water subsidiary, Aqua Texas, has signed an asset
purchase agreement to acquire the water treatment and distribution
system of the Southern Oaks Water System in Freestone County, Texas
which serves approximately 740 homes.
Southern Oaks will be Essential’s second acquisition in Texas
using the state’s fair market legislation. The FMV legislation,
enacted in 2019, allows regulated water companies to pay a fair
market value for the purchase of all water and wastewater utilities
in Texas including those owned and operated by private investors
and municipal governments. Prior to the new law, a system’s value
previously was determined by its depreciated original cost, which
generally did not reflect a true market value for those assets.
Aqua Texas closed its first FMV acquisition in August 2021 at
which time Essential Chairman and CEO Christopher Franklin said,
“The Texas fair market value law offers a compelling solution to
municipalities, developers and other utility owners who must meet
ever-increasing health and environmental standards and the costs of
operating and maintaining their systems. Aqua can benefit other
communities like The Commons by leveraging our expertise in
compliance, large-scale purchasing power and other efficiencies
that can be realized with a larger, regional operation.”
Aqua Texas anticipates closing the Southern Oaks acquisition in
2023. Including Southern Oaks, the company currently has eight
signed purchase agreements for water and wastewater systems, which
have a total purchase price of more than $471 million and represent
approximately 235,000 equivalent retail customers or equivalent
dwelling units.
Aqua Texas serves about 250,000 people in 54 counties across
Texas. Visit AquaAmerica.com for more information or follow
@MyAquaAmerica on Facebook and Twitter.
About Essential
Essential is one of the largest publicly traded water,
wastewater and natural gas providers in the U.S., serving
approximately 5 million people across 10 states under the Aqua and
Peoples brands. Essential is committed to excellence in proactive
infrastructure investment, regulatory expertise, operational
efficiency and environmental stewardship. The company recognizes
the importance water and natural gas play in everyday life and is
proud to deliver safe, reliable services that contribute to the
quality of life in the communities it serves. For more information,
visit http://www.essential.co.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
including. There are important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements including: general economic business
conditions; the successful integration of the customers and the
facility; and other factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form
10-K, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For more information regarding risks and uncertainties associated
with Essential Utilities’ business, please refer to Essential
Utilities’ annual, quarterly and other SEC filings. Essential
Utilities is not under any obligation — and expressly disclaims any
such obligation — to update or alter its forward-looking statements
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
WTRGF
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220207005806/en/
Brian Dingerdissen Investor Relations O: 610.645.1191
BJDingerdissen@Essential.co
Erin O’Donnell Communications and Marketing O: 402.208.6614
Media@essential.co
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