Piedmont Natural Gas completes its largest debt issuance aided by disabled-veteran-owned banks

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), has successfully closed a $600 million debt offering – its largest debt issuance in the history of the company and its first since it merged with Duke Energy.

This transaction, which involved three disabled-veteran-owned banks as co-underwriters to sell the notes, aligns with Duke Energy's practice of routinely involving diversity-owned financial institutions in its capital raising efforts. Over the past three years, the company has worked with firms representing various backgrounds, including women-owned, African American-owned, disabled-veteran-owned and Hispanic-owned banks.

"Our focus on diversity and inclusion is unwavering – from our employees and leadership team to our suppliers, brokerage firms and investors," said Steve Young, Duke Energy's chief financial officer. "These partnerships enable us to broaden our investor base and honor veterans while also accessing low-cost capital to invest in important infrastructure for our customers."

"We are proud to be a part of this historic transaction for Piedmont Natural Gas," stated Ron Quigley, managing director at Mischler Financial, one of the disabled-veteran-owned banks participating in the transaction. "Not only does this represent another successful collaborative effort within the business community, it also carries more meaning to our firm given the timing of Memorial Day and our commitment to donate a portion of the proceeds from this transaction to causes that are important to our veteran employees."

Piedmont priced the bonds on May 21 and closed the transaction on May 24. Net proceeds will be used to retire a bank loan, repay other borrowings and other general corporate purposes.

"Everyone benefits when we bring diverse thoughts, perspectives and talents to the table," said Young. "Together, we have an opportunity to foster more innovation, enhance outreach to customers and investors and increase the business community's commitment to collaborating with a wide variety of firms."

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities and 3,000 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit.

Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve approximately 7.7 million retail electric customers in six states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to more than 1.6 million customers in five states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2019 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Contact: Catherine Butler
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SOURCE Duke Energy