CenterPoint Energy decides against folding utility business into REIT
by August 8, 2016 8:29 am 169 views
CenterPoint Energy, which reported a second quarter loss of $2 million, announced on Friday that it has completed its six-month evaluation and decided not to pursue forming a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) structure for its utility business, or any part thereof.
In February, the energy giant announced plans to explore the use of a REIT business model for all or part of the utility business.
“Given a broad range of assumptions, we have determined that the potential to create long-term shareholder value by forming a REIT is very limited and does not justify exposure to the associated risks,” said CenterPoint President and CEO Scott Prochazka.
“We continue to focus on increasing shareholder value by investing in our growing utility businesses,” he added.
On the regulated side of its operations, CenterPoint serves as the holding company for natural gas utilities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas and Minnesota. The Houston-based natural gas operator currently has 430,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across the state.