JOPLIN, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Pursuant to the closing today of the merger of The Empire District Electric Company (the “Company”) with Liberty Sub Corp., a subsidiary of Liberty Utilities (Central) Co., and an indirect subsidiary of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE: AQN, TSX: AQN), the Company has established January 10, 2017 as the payment date for the special pro-rated dividend declared December 22, 2016 by the Company’s Board of Directors. The amount of the dividend is $0.088567 per share, payable to shareholders of record as of December 30, 2016. The pro-rated dividend is the daily equivalent of the Company’s current quarterly dividend rate of $0.26 per share, calculated from December 1, 2016 (the prior dividend record date) through December 31, 2016, the day prior to the effective day of the merger.

Based in Joplin, Missouri, The Empire District Electric Company is a regulated utility providing electric, natural gas (through its wholly owned subsidiary, The Empire District Gas Company) and water service, with approximately 218,000 customers in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. A subsidiary of the Company also provides fiber optic services. On January 1, 2017, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (“APUC”) (TSX: AQN, NYSE: AQN) announced that a subsidiary of APUC’s wholly owned regulated utility business, Liberty Utilities, completed its acquisition of The Empire District Electric Company. Empire is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Utilities and ceases to be a publicly-held corporation. Shareholders can visit Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp’s Investor Centre here: http://investors.algonquinpower.com/corporateprofile.aspx?iid=4142273

Certain matters discussed in this press release are “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements address or may address future plans, objectives, expectations and events or conditions concerning various matters such as, capital expenditures, earnings, pension and other costs, competition, litigation, our construction program, our generation plans, our financing plans, rate and other regulatory matters, liquidity and capital resources and accounting matters. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements, by reason of the factors noted in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including the most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q.

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