CALGARY, ALBERTA--Enbridge today announced that it has agreed to
sell its 100 per cent interest in the Cornwall Street Railway
Light and Power Company Limited (Cornwall Electric) to Fortis Inc.
for $67 million cash. The sale, which is subject to approval by
the Competition Bureau and the Ontario Energy Board, is expected
to close in the third quarter.
Cornwall Electric is an electric power distribution utility
company that distributes electric power to approximately 23,000
residential and business customers in Cornwall, Ontario, and the
surrounding area.
Enbridge anticipates that there will be no impact on the 60
Cornwall Electric employees, and it will be business as usual for
Cornwall Electric's customers.
Enbridge acquired Cornwall Electric in 1998 to create a platform
for taking advantage of opportunities that were expected to arise
from the deregulation of the Ontario electricity market. Although
the investment has enabled Enbridge to gain knowledge and
operations expertise in electric power distribution, the market
did not evolve as hoped for, which lead to a lack of viable
opportunities for Enbridge to invest in the privatization of
Ontario Municipal Electric Utilities (MEUs). Enbridge is still
interested in pursuing other avenues of significant scale to enter
the electricity distribution market in our franchise area.
The sale is consistent with recent initiatives by Enbridge to
focus more fully on its three core businesses - liquids pipelines,
natural gas pipelines and natural gas distribution.
Fortis is a diversified electric utility holding company with
interests in five other electric distribution utilities in Canada
and internationally.
Enbridge Inc. is a leader in energy transportation and
distribution in North America and internationally. As a
transporter of energy, Enbridge operates, in Canada and the U.S.,
the world's longest crude oil and liquids transportation system.
The Company also is involved in international energy projects and
has a growing involvement in the natural gas transmission and
midstream businesses. As a distributor of energy, Enbridge owns
and operates Canada's largest natural gas distribution company,
which provides distribution services in Ontario, Quebec and New
York State; and is developing a gas distribution system for the
province of New Brunswick. Enbridge employs approximately 4,000
people, primarily in Canada, the U.S. and South America. Enbridge
common shares trade on The Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and on
the New York Stock Exchange in the U.S., under the symbol ENB.
Information about Enbridge is available on the Company's web site
at www.enbridge.com.
When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "expect",
"project", "believe", "estimate", "forecast" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements,
which include statements relating to pending and proposed
projects. Such statements are subject to certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions pertaining to operating performance,
regulatory parameters, weather and economic conditions and, in the
case of pending and proposed projects, risks relating to design
and construction, regulatory processes, obtaining financing and
performance of other parties, including partners, contractors and
suppliers.
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