Held for Sale and Divestitures (CenterPoint Energy and CERC)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Held for Sale and Divestitures (CenterPoint Energy and CERC)

Held for Sale. On February 19, 2024, CERC Corp. entered into the LAMS Asset Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which CERC Corp. has agreed to sell its Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses. The purchase price for the Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses is $1.2 billion and subject to adjustment as set forth in the LAMS Asset Purchase Agreement, including adjustments based on net working capital, regulatory assets and liabilities and capital expenditures at closing. The completion of the proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including (i) the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, (ii) approval of the LPSC, (iii) approval of the MPSC, (iv) no Material Adverse Effect (as defined in the LAMS Asset Purchase Agreement) having occurred, and (v) customary closing conditions regarding the accuracy of the representations and warranties and compliance by the parties with the respective obligations under the LAMS Asset Purchase Agreement. The proposed transaction is not subject to a financing condition and is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2025, subject to satisfaction of the foregoing conditions. The businesses include approximately 12,000 miles of main pipeline in Louisiana and Mississippi serving more than 300,000 customers. The Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses are reflected in CenterPoint Energy’s Natural Gas reportable segment and CERC’s single reportable segment, as applicable. Filings were made on April 24, 2024 to the LPSC and on April 25, 2024 to the MPSC requesting approval of the transaction.

In February 2024, certain assets and liabilities representing the Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses met the held for sale criteria. The sale will be considered an asset sale for tax purposes, requiring net deferred tax liabilities to be excluded from held for sale balances.

The Registrants record assets and liabilities held for sale at the lower of their carrying value or their estimated fair value less cost to sell. Neither CenterPoint Energy nor CERC recognized any gains or losses upon classification of held for sale during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024. See Note 9 for further information about the allocation of goodwill to the businesses to be sold.

The assets and liabilities of the Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses classified as held for sale in CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, as applicable, included the following:


	September 30, 2024
	CenterPoint Energy		CERC
	(in millions)
Receivables, net	$	9	$	9
Accrued unbilled revenues	11		11
Natural gas inventory	6		6
Materials and supplies	13		13
Property, plant and equipment, net	1,030		1,030
Goodwill	217		122
Regulatory assets	57		57
Other	3		3
Total current assets held for sale	$	1,346	$	1,251

Short-term borrowings	$	3	$	3
Accounts payable	18		18


Customer deposits	14		14
Regulatory liabilities	92		92
Other	93		93
Total current liabilities held for sale	$	220	$	220

Although the Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses meet the held for sale criteria, their proposed disposals do not represent a strategic shift for CenterPoint Energy and CERC as both will retain significant operations in, and will continue to invest in, their natural gas businesses. Therefore, the assets and liabilities associated with these transactions are not reflected as discontinued operations on CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Condensed Statements of Consolidated Income, as applicable, and the December 31, 2023 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets were not required to be recast for assets held for sale. Since the depreciation on the Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses assets will continue to be reflected in revenues through customer rates until the expected closing of the transaction and will be reflected in the carryover basis of the rate-regulated assets once sold, CenterPoint Energy and CERC will continue to record depreciation on those assets through the expected closing of the transaction.

The pre-tax income for the Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses, excluding interest and corporate allocations, included in CenterPoint Energy’s and CERC’s Condensed Statements of Consolidated Income is as follows:


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2024		2023		2024		2023
	(in millions)
Income (loss) Before Income Taxes	$	1	$	(2)	$	45	$	33

Divestiture of Energy Systems Group. On May 21, 2023, CenterPoint Energy, through its subsidiary Vectren Energy Services, entered into an Equity Purchase Agreement to sell all of the outstanding limited liability company interests of Energy Systems Group to ESG Holdings Group, for a purchase price of $157 million, subject to customary adjustments set forth in the Equity Purchase Agreement, including adjustments based on Energy Systems Group’s net working capital at closing, indebtedness, cash and cash equivalents and transaction expenses. The transaction closed on June 30, 2023, and CenterPoint Energy received $154 million in cash. Additionally, as of September 30, 2024, CenterPoint Energy had a payable of approximately $2 million to ESG Holdings Group for working capital and other adjustments set forth in the Equity Purchase Agreement, which had not yet been finalized. For a discussion of CenterPoint Energy’s pre-disposition guarantees related to Energy Systems Group, see Note 13(b).

CenterPoint Energy recognized a loss on sale of approximately $12 million, including $3 million of transaction costs, during the nine months ended September 30, 2023, in connection with the closing of the sale of Energy Systems Group. Additionally, CenterPoint Energy recognized a current tax expense of $33 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2023, as a result of the cash taxes payable upon the closing of the sale.

The pre-tax loss for Energy Systems Group, excluding interest and corporate allocations, included in CenterPoint Energy’s Condensed Statements of Consolidated Income is as follows:


	Three Months Ended September 30, 2023		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023
	(in millions)
Loss Before Income Taxes	$	—	$	4