KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 1, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Aquila, Inc. (NYSE:ILA) today announced it has completed the sale of its Missouri natural gas utility division to The Empire District Gas Company for a base purchase price of $85 million. Total proceeds received were approximately $102 million, which includes the base purchase price and additional monies related to working capital and other adjustments, subject to "true-up" within 90 days. The transaction, initially announced in September 2005, involves one of four utility properties Aquila is selling for a total of $897 million. All sales transactions are expected to be completed this year.
The Missouri gas properties consist of approximately 48,500 customers in 44 Missouri communities in northwest, north central and west central Missouri. The purchase includes 1,274 miles of transmission and distribution mains.
Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Aquila employees operate electric power generation and electric and natural gas transmission and distribution utilities serving 1.2 million customers in communities in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. At March 31, 2006, Aquila had total assets of $4.2 billion. More information is available at www.aquila.com.
The Aquila, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1753