Nicor Gas Back For $50 Million FMB via Wells
July 24, 2009
Repeat issuer Nicor Gas got $50 million in private funds in a deal that priced earlier this week via Wells Fargo, sources confirmed. The Illinois-based natural gas distributor has issued at least two prior private transactions in the past three years.
The NAIC-1, first mortgage bond priced in a single 10-year tranche at 120 basis points over Treasurys. The deal priced earlier this week but had yet to close as of press time.
Including the current deal, Nicor Gas has tapped the private market for $175 million in FMB paper since 2006, according to data from the PPL Deal Log. In March of 2008, Nicor Gas did a $75 million deal via Wachovia. The 30-year transaction priced at 175 basis points over Treasurys. In October of 2006, Nicor tapped the market for $50 in FMB paper via JPMorgan Securities. That deal was also 30-years in duration and priced at 92 basis points over Treasurys.
Nicor Gas is part of Napierville, Ill.-based Nicor Inc., which is publicly traded [NYSE:GAS] and has a market cap of $1.65 billion. Nicor Gas is one of the largest natural gas distribution companies in the country, serving more than two million customers and with a distribution network of more than 34,000 miles of pipeline.
For the first quarter of 2009, Nicor Inc. reported net income of $43.8 million on $1.1 billion of operating revenue, versus net income of $41.4 million on $1.6 billion of operating revenue for the year-prior period.--GC
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