MGE ACQUISITION (Notes)

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Business Acquisition [Line Items]

Business Combination Disclosure [Text Block]

2. MGE ACQUISITION

Effective September 1, 2013, the Utility completed the purchase of substantially all of the assets and liabilities of MGE, a utility engaged in the distribution of natural gas on a regulated basis in western Missouri, from Southern Union Company (SUG), an affiliate of Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (ETE) and Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. The purchase was completed pursuant to the Purchase and Sales Agreement (MGE PSA) dated December 14, 2012. Under the terms of the MGE PSA, the Utility acquired MGE for a purchase price of $975 million, subject to reconciliation of certain amounts as discussed below.

The strategic rationale for the purchase for Laclede Group to is described below:

• With a larger market capitalization and enterprise value, the Company improved trading liquidity and has

better access to the capital markets.

• The Company now serves Missouri's two largest metropolitan areas in a state where it already had a working

relationship with regulators.

In accordance with Section 3.2 of the MGE PSA, Laclede Gas provided to SUG a reconciliation of certain balance sheet accounts from the amounts at September 30, 2012 to August 31, 2013, indicating the difference due to changes in the actual net assets transferred to the Company at closing from the level at September 30, 2012. Laclede Gas and SUG agreed to the final reconciliation amount of $23.9 million which was paid by ETE to Laclede Gas on February 14, 2014.

Also, on December 12, 2012, a subsidiary of Laclede Group, Plaza Massachusetts Acquisition Inc. (Plaza Mass), agreed to purchase New England Gas Company (NEG) from SUG. Subsequently, on February 11, 2013, the Company agreed to sell Plaza Mass to Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (APUC). On December 13, 2013, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (MDPU) approved the transfer of NEG to an APUC subsidiary. Consistent with the February 11, 2013 agreements, on December 20, 2013, the Company closed the sale of Plaza Mass to an APUC subsidiary and received $11.0 million from APUC. On December 24, 2013, the Massachusetts Attorney General filed a Motion for Clarification/Reconsideration with the MDPU which, among other things, claims that legislative approval is required for a transfer of utility assets. On March 26, 2014, the MDPU issued an order denying the Attorney General's motion, so the MDPU's order approving the sale of NEG is now final.

These receipts of funds in December and February effectively reduced the Utility's purchase price of MGE to $940.1 million and reduced goodwill related to the transaction to $216.4 million. The acquisition was accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with ASC 805 (“Topic 805”), “Business Combinations.” Accordingly, goodwill was measured as the excess of the acquisition-date fair value of the consideration transferred over the amount of acquisition-date identifiable assets acquired net of assumed liabilities. As part of the MGE acquisition, Laclede Gas has estimated the asset retirement obligation of MGE's long-lived assets as of the acquisition date. This allocation of asset retirement obligations is preliminary and will be finalized upon completion of a detailed fair value analysis that is being performed by the Company and will be finalized prior to September 30, 2014.

For the three and six months ended March 31, 2014, operating revenues for MGE were $236.6 million and $396.7 million, respectively.