Chilquinta Energía Acquires Two Major Transmission Lines From AES Gener In Chile

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Chilquinta Energía, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) and one of Chile's largest electric distribution utilities, announced this week that it has completed the acquisition of two major regulated transmission lines from AES Gener S.A., a subsidiary of AES Corporation.

As a result of the successful completion of the transaction, Chilquinta Energía now owns 100 percent of Compañía Transmisora del Norte Grande S.A. (CTNG) for a total purchase price of approximately $225.5 million. CTNG, which is part of AES Gener S.A. and its subsidiary Empresa Eléctrica Angamos S.A., owns the regulated transmission assets in central and northern Chile.

"These transmission assets will expand our presence in the region and enhance our portfolio of reliable electric infrastructure that serves our customers in Chile," said Dennis V. Arriola, executive vice president and group president for Sempra Energy. "Additionally, this acquisition fits with our business focus on owning and operating utility infrastructure with a transmission-and-distribution risk profile."

The CTNG transmission assets acquired by Chilquinta Energía include a 114-mile, 110-kilovolt (kV) transmission line and substations in the central Valparaiso-Santiago region, located in Chilquinta Energía's service territory, and an 82-mile, 220-kV transmission line in the northern Antofagasta region. Both transmission lines are currently in operation. 

Chilquinta Energía used cash to finance the transaction.

The transaction received regulatory approval from the Fiscalía Nacional Económica Nov. 29, 2018.  

Chilquinta Energía, the third-largest distributor of electricity in Chile, and its affiliates serve more than 600,000 customers in the central and southern regions of Chile.

Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services holding company with 2017 revenues of more than $11 billion, is the utility holding company with the largest U.S. customer base. The Sempra Energy companies' approximately 20,000 employees serve more than 40 million consumers worldwide.

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Factors, among others, that could cause our actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, new regulations, and issuances of permits and other authorizations by the California Public Utilities Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, California Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Public Utility Commission of Texas, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the U.S. and other countries in which we operate; the timing and success of business development efforts, major acquisitions such as our interest in Oncor, and construction projects, including risks in (i) timely obtaining or maintaining permits and other authorizations, (ii) completing construction projects on schedule and on budget, (iii) obtaining the consent and participation of partners and counterparties and their ability to fulfill contractual commitments, and (iv) not realizing anticipated benefits; 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risks posed by actions of third parties who control the operations of our investments; weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment failures, computer system outages, explosions, terrorist attacks and other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of harmful materials, cause wildfires and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits), may be disputed by insurers or may otherwise not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers and employees; our ability to successfully execute our plan to divest certain non-utility assets within the anticipated timeframe, if at all, or that such plan may not yield the anticipated benefits; actions of activist shareholders, which could impact the market price of our equity and debt securities and disrupt our operations as a result of, among other things, requiring significant time and attention by management and our board of directors; changes in capital markets, energy markets and economic conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of our investments; and volatility in inflation, interest and currency exchange rates and commodity prices and our ability to effectively hedge the risk of such volatility; the impact of recent federal tax reform and uncertainty as to how it may be applied, and our ability to mitigate adverse impacts; actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or those of our subsidiaries or to place those ratings on negative outlook and our ability to borrow at favorable interest rates; changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including border tariffs, and revisions to or replacement of international trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, that may increase our costs or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; the ability to win competitively bid infrastructure projects against a number of strong and aggressive competitors; expropriation of assets by foreign governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric's (SDG&E) electric transmission and distribution system due to increased amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy sources; the impact on competitive customer rates due to the growth in distributed and local power generation and from possible departing retail load resulting from customers transferring to Direct Access and Community Choice Aggregation or other forms of distributed and local power generation and the potential risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets and contractual obligations; Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC's (Oncor) ability to eliminate or reduce its quarterly dividends due to regulatory capital requirements and commitments, or the determination by Oncor's independent directors or a minority member director to retain such amounts to meet future requirements; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Renewables, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utility, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.B. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Renewables, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utility, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

SOURCE Sempra Energy

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