Exhibit 99.1
NEWS
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Contacts: Investors Media Relations
George Laskaris Ed Yutkowitz
718.403.2526 718.403.2523
KeySpan to Sell its Remaining Ownership Interest
in The Houston Exploration Company
Brooklyn, NY - November 19, 2004 - KeySpan Corporation (NYSE:KSE) announced
today that it expects to completely exit its ownership interest in its affiliate
company, The Houston Exploration Company (NYSE: THX). KeySpan has agreed to sell
its remaining ownership interest of approximately 6.6 million shares of common
stock in Houston Exploration through Morgan Stanley at a price to the public of
$56.25 per share. The sale will generate proceeds to KeySpan of approximately
$369 million. Following this transaction, KeySpan will no longer have any
ownership interest in Houston Exploration.
Morgan Stanley will be the sole underwriter for this transaction.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of
an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in
which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration
or qualification under the securities law of any state. Investors may obtain a
copy of the prospectus relating to the offering when available from Morgan
Stanley.
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A member of Standard & Poor's 500 Index, KeySpan Corporation (NYSE:KSE) is the
largest distributor of natural gas in the Northeast with 2.5 million customers,
operating regulated natural gas utilities in New York, Massachusetts and New
Hampshire which do business as KeySpan Energy Delivery. This customer focused
business is complemented by the Energy Services business which offers a
portfolio of energy-related products, services and solutions to homes and
businesses. KeySpan is also the largest owner of electric generation in New York
State. We own approximately 6,400 megawatts of generating capacity, which
provides power to the 1.1 million customers of the Long Island Power Authority
and supplies 25% of New York City's capacity needs. In addition to these assets,
KeySpan has strategic investments in production, pipeline transportation,
distribution and storage, and owns minority interest in natural gas exploration
and Canadian gas processing. KeySpan has headquarters in Brooklyn, Boston and
Long Island.
Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements, which
reflect numerous assumptions and estimates and involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. For these statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor
for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. There are possible developments that could cause our actual
results to differ materially from those forecasted or implied in the
forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements, which are current only as of the date of this
filing. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially are: general economic conditions, especially in the Northeast United
States; available sources and costs of fuel; volatility of energy prices in a
deregulated market environment as well as in the source of natural gas and fuel
used to generate electricity; potential write-down of our investment in natural
gas properties when natural gas prices are depressed or if we have significant
downward revisions in our estimated proved gas reserves; federal and state
regulatory initiatives that increase competition, threaten cost and investment
recovery and impact rate structure; our ability to successfully reduce our cost
structures; implementation of new accounting standards; the degree to which we
develop unregulated business ventures, as well as federal and state regulatory
policies affecting our ability to retain and operate those business ventures;
our ability to identify and make complementary acquisitions, as well as the
successful integration of those acquisitions; inflationary trends and interest
rates; and risks detailed from time to time in reports and other documents filed
by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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