UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
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| Item 1.01. | Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement. |
On October 29, 2024, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (the “Company”) entered into an Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, as representatives of the several Underwriters named in Schedule I to the Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriters”), relating to the underwritten public offering of $500,000,000 aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 6.700% Fixed-to-Fixed Reset Rate Junior Subordinated Notes, Series C, due 2055 (the “Notes”). The offering is being made pursuant to the Company’s registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-272025).
The Notes are being issued pursuant to the Junior Subordinated Indenture, dated as of August 14, 2024 (the “Junior Subordinated Indenture”), between the Company and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, National Association, as trustee (the “Trustee”), as supplemented by the Supplemental Indenture No. 2 to the Junior Subordinated Indenture to be dated as of October 31, 2024 between the Company and the Trustee (the “Supplemental Indenture”) with respect to the Notes. The form, terms and provisions of the Notes are further described in the Supplemental Indenture and the prospectus supplement of the Company dated October 29, 2024, together with the related prospectus dated May 17, 2023, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under Rule 424(b)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, on October 30, 2024, which description is incorporated herein by reference.
The Notes will be the Company’s unsecured obligations and will rank junior and subordinate in right of payment to the prior payment in full of the Company’s existing and future Senior Indebtedness (as defined in the Supplemental Indenture). Interest on the Notes will accrue from October 31, 2024 and is payable semi-annually in arrears on May 15 and November 15 of each year, beginning on May 15, 2025, and maturing on May 15, 2055. The Notes will bear interest (i) from and including October 31, 2024 to, but excluding May 15, 2030 at the rate of 6.700% per annum and (ii) from and including May 15, 2030, during each five-year period following May 15, 2030 (each such five-year period, an “Interest Reset Period”) at a rate per annum equal to the Five-year Treasury Rate (as defined in the Supplemental Indenture) as of two business days prior to the beginning of the applicable Interest Reset Period plus a spread of 2.586%, with such rate per annum to be reset on each five-year anniversary of May 15, 2030. So long as no Event of Default (as defined in the Supplemental Indenture) with respect to the Notes has occurred and is continuing, the Company may, at its option, defer interest payments on the Notes, from time to time, for one or more deferral periods of up to 20 consecutive semi-annual interest payment periods, except that no such Optional Deferral Period (as defined in the Supplemental Indenture) may extend beyond the final maturity date of the Notes or end on a day other than the day immediately preceding an interest payment date.
During any Optional Deferral Period, the Company (and its majority-owned subsidiaries, as applicable) will not (subject to certain exceptions as described in the Supplemental Indenture): (i) declare or pay any dividends or distributions on any of the Company’s capital stock; (ii) redeem, purchase, acquire or make a liquidation payment with respect to any of the Company’s capital stock; (iii) pay any principal, interest (to the extent such interest is deferrable) or premium on, or repay, repurchase or redeem any of the Company’s indebtedness that ranks equally with or junior to the Notes in right of payment (including debt securities of other series); or (iv) make any payments with respect to any guarantees by the Company of any indebtedness if such guarantees rank equally with or junior to the Notes in right of payment.
The Underwriters and their affiliates are full service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include securities trading, commercial and investment banking, financial advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, financing and brokerage activities. In the ordinary course of their respective businesses, certain of the Underwriters and/or their affiliates have engaged, and may in the future engage, in commercial banking, investment banking, trust or investment management transactions with the Company and its affiliates for which they have received, and will in the future receive, customary compensation.
The foregoing description is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Underwriting Agreement, the Junior Subordinated Indenture and the form of the Supplemental Indenture No. 2 (including the form of the Notes), each of which have been filed as Exhibits 1.1, 4.1 and 4.2, respectively, to this Current Report on Form 8-K and are incorporated by reference herein.
| Item 9.01. | Financial Statements and Exhibits |
The exhibits listed below are filed herewith.
Agreements and forms of agreements included as exhibits are included only to provide information to investors regarding their terms. Agreements and forms of agreements listed below may contain representations, warranties and other provisions that were made, among other things, to provide the parties thereto with specified rights and obligations and to allocate risk among them, and no such agreement or form of agreement should be relied upon as constituting or providing any factual disclosures about the Company, any other person, any state of affairs or other matters.
| (d) | Exhibits. |
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| CENTERPOINT ENERGY, INC. | ||||
| Date: October 31, 2024 | By: | /s/ Kristie L. Colvin | ||
| Kristie L. Colvin | ||||
| Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer | ||||