Aclara Divestiture

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Aclara Divestiture

2. Aclara Divestiture

On March 28, 2014, the Company completed the sale of Aclara to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. The divestiture generated approximately $135 million of gross cash proceeds. A disagreement between the parties over the calculation of the final working capital adjustment was finally resolved by arbitration on June 15, 2015, resulting in a cash payment to the Company of $2.3 million. Aclara is reflected as discontinued operations in the consolidated financial statements and related notes for all periods presented.

Aclara’s pretax earnings (loss) recorded in discontinued operations was $1.2 million, $(48.2) million and $(62.1) million for the years ended September 30, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The 2014 pretax loss consisted of Aclara’s pretax earnings from its results of operations of $15.6 million and a pretax loss of $63.8 million on the sale of Aclara. The 2013 pretax loss was due to a $48 million goodwill impairment charge recorded in the fourth quarter of 2013; lower sales volumes; and changes in product mix (higher shipments of lower margin gas products). Aclara’s net sales were $129.6 million and $184.5 million for the years ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Aclara’s operations were included within the Company’s USG segment prior to the classification as discontinued operations.