MDU Resources to acquire Cascade Natural Gas

Pipeline & Gas Journal, August, 2006

North Dakota-based MDU Resources Group, Inc. has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Cascade Natural Gas Corp. of Washington state for $475 million. Cascade's customer base in Washington and Oregon will approximately double the number of MDU customers.

Cascade will join Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. and Great Plains Natural Gas Co. as MDU Resources utility business units. Montana-Dakota and Great Plains serve about 250,000 natural gas customers and 120,000 electric customers in five Upper Midwest states. Cascade serves 235,000 customers in 93 communities--65 of which are in Washington and 28 in Oregon. Cascade's service areas are concentrated in western and south central Washington and south central and eastern Oregon. Its customer growth has been more than 4% on a compound annual basis. Cascade was founded in 1953 and employs 378 people.