Exhibit 99.1
[Letterhead of Entergy] [Letterhead of KOCH Industries Inc.]
NEWS RELEASE
Date: April 24, 2000
For Release: Immediate
Contacts: Kelle Barfield (News Media) Mary Beth Jarvis
Entergy Corp. Koch Industries, Inc.
501-576-2547 316-828-3756
e-mail: kbarfie@entergy.com e-mail: jarvism@kochind.com
Renae Conley (Investor Relations)
Entergy Corp.
504-576-4947
e-mail: econley@entergy.com
Entergy, Koch Industries Contributing Key Energy Businesses
To Create Top-Tier Energy Company
Houston - Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) and privately held Koch
Industries, Inc. today announced plans to form Entergy-Koch L.P.,
a new company that would be one of the leading energy companies
in North America and Europe. Entergy-Koch L.P. will deliver,
market and trade power, natural gas and other energy-related
commodities, including weather derivatives, through wholly owned
subsidiaries, including a pipeline company, which will operate
the interstate natural gas pipeline system now called Koch
Gateway.
Entergy-Koch L.P. will be among the nation's top ten energy
commodity traders, in terms of combined volumes of electricity
and natural gas traded. The new company will have total assets
of approximately $1 billion, including the 10,000-mile Koch
Gateway Pipeline, one of the largest natural gas transmission
systems in the Gulf South, and the Bisteneau gas storage
facility.
The new company will be the first venture between Koch, one
of the nation's most successful energy traders, and Entergy, the
third-largest U.S. generator of electric power and the nation's
largest natural gas-fired generating fleet. The attributes of
Entergy-Koch L.P., which will have its asset base in the Gulf
South and a trading presence in North America and Europe, clearly
set it apart from its competitors.
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Entergy, Koch Creating Top-Tier Energy Company
April 24, 2000
Page 2 of 4
In addition to the Koch Gateway Pipeline Company interstate
pipeline system and related storage assets, Koch Industries will
also contribute the capabilities of its affiliate Koch Energy
Trading, which markets and trades gas, power and weather
derivatives. Entergy will contribute to the venture its power
marketing and trading businesses - consisting of Entergy Power
Marketing Corporation in the United States, and Entergy Trading
and Marketing in Europe - and also cash. Entergy estimates this
cash contribution at approximately $350 million, $150 million of
which would be funded with equity and $200 million with debt.
"The complementary strengths being contributed by Entergy
and Koch - in natural gas and in the marketing and trading of
power and other energy commodities - bring a unique set of
resources to the new company," said J. Wayne Leonard, Entergy's
chief executive officer. "Entergy-Koch will have the assets and
the scale to compete and grow. It will trade volumes in excess
of 100 million MWh of electricity annually and 5 Bcf of gas daily
- - a scale that is generally recognized as necessary for ongoing
profitability. For Entergy, the new company will not only
contribute to our earnings growth on its own but will offer risk-
management tools to our existing businesses."
"This innovative new company promises to add value for all
energy customers," said Joe Moeller, president of Koch
Industries. "Entergy-Koch would offer customers a variety of
services to mitigate risk, helping them minimize potential
volatility in the marketplace as deregulation continues to
transform the gas and electric power industries. Entergy's
trading groups bring significant capabilities in physical power
markets in North America and Europe that would be key to the
success of the venture. We're pleased to be working with Entergy
and are enthusiastic about furthering our vision for building a
world-class energy marketing and trading company."
Benefits to Member Companies
Entergy-Koch L.P. will benefit from Koch Energy Trading's
leading position in energy commodities markets, including weather
derivatives, and from Koch Energy Trading's highly disciplined
commodity trading controls, policies, procedures, systems and
infrastructure. The new company will also benefit from Entergy's
capabilities in domestic and international power marketing and
trading. Entergy-Koch L.P. will be able to provide customers a
broad range of commodity sources and options, including gas, oil,
coal and power, weather derivatives and additional risk
management tools.
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Entergy, Koch Creating Top-Tier Energy Company
April 24, 2000
Page 3 of 4
Entergy-Koch L.P. will also market the power and provide
risk management and trading services for Entergy's existing and
future merchant plants. Entergy will retain its growing merchant
generation fleet, enabling it to establish a singular focus on
developing profitable merchant plants, while benefiting from its
relationship with Entergy-Koch's skilled trading and risk
management team. Entergy Corp. is expecting the venture to
contribute $0.25 to $0.30 to its earnings in the venture's first
full year of operation.
The expanded scope and resources of the new venture are
expected to create additional growth opportunities for weather
derivatives - financial instruments designed to enable utilities
and other businesses to hedge their risks of cost or sales volume
fluctuations associated with temperature changes. Koch Energy
Trading is now a market leader in that area, currently accounting
for about 30 percent of such trades.
Management, Governance and Location
Entergy-Koch L.P. will be headed by Kyle Vann, currently
senior vice president, Koch Industries, Inc. Kyle has a broad
range of leadership experience in the energy industry, including
leadership roles as diverse as refinery management, products
trading, oil field services, and economic and acquisitions
management. Mr. Vann joined Koch in 1979 and currently leads the
company's power, gas and gas liquids businesses, including
management of these highly successful marketing and trading
businesses and related assets.
An eight-member Board of Directors - four each from Koch and
Entergy, will govern Entergy-Koch L.P. Entergy Corporation's
board chairman, Robert v.d. Luft, would also be the chairman of
the board of Entergy-Koch L.P. In addition to Luft, Entergy's
board members would include Wayne Leonard, Entergy's CEO, Don
Hintz, Entergy's president, and John Wilder, Entergy's CFO.
Koch's board members would include Charles Koch, Koch Industries'
chairman and CEO, Joe Moeller, Koch Industries' president and
COO, Bill Hanna, Koch Industries' vice chairman, and Sam Soliman,
Koch Industries' incoming CFO.
The venture will be headquartered in Houston.
Required Approvals
The formation of the new company is subject to completion of
some final documentation, and the venture will require board
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Entergy, Koch Creating Top-Tier Energy Company
April 24, 2000
Page 4 of 4
approvals. Creation of the new company will also require approval
by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Securities
and Exchange Commission. It is anticipated that the regulatory
approval process will take approximately six to nine months.
Background on Members
Entergy owns, manages or invests in power plants generating
nearly 30,000 megawatts of electricity domestically and
internationally and delivers electricity to about 2.5 million
customers in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and
Texas. Entergy is a major global energy company engaged in power
production, distribution operations, and related diversified
services, with more than 12,000 employees. It is also a leading
provider of wholesale energy marketing and trading services. The
Entergy futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange
(NYMEX) is one of the largest electricity trading points in the
United States.
Koch Industries, Inc., through its subsidiaries, employs
approximately 12,000 people worldwide and is involved in
virtually all phases of the oil and gas industry, as well as in
chemicals, plastics, energy services, chemical and environmental
technology products, asphalt products, metals and mineral
services, ranching, financial services, and ventures.
Entergy's Web site can be found at www.entergy.com. For more
information on Koch, refer to www.kochind.com.
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The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Investors are
cautioned that forward-looking statements contained in the
foregoing release with respect to the revenues, earnings,
performance, strategies, prospects and other aspects of the
business of Entergy Corporation may involve risks and
uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results or
outcomes to differ materially from those indicated by such
forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not
limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to: the effects of
weather, the performance of generating units and transmission
systems, the possession of nuclear materials, fuel prices and
availability, the effects of regulatory decisions and changes in
law, litigation, capital spending requirements, the onset of
competition, advances in technology, changes in accounting
standards, corporate restructuring and changes in capital
structure, movements in the markets for electricity and other
energy-related commodities, changes in interest rates and in
financial and foreign currency markets generally, changes in
corporate strategies, and other factors.