Atmos Energy Corporation Shares Dropping After Announcing Public Offering of 8M Shares of Common Stock

Atmos Energy Corporation

announced today that it plans to make a public offering of 8,000,000 shares of its common stock. J.P. Morgan, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley are the joint book-running managers for the offering. The co-managers are BofA Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities, BB&T Capital Markets and Credit Agricole CIB. The underwriters will be granted an option to purchase up to an additional 1,200,000 shares. The company will offer all of the shares. Atmos Energy intends to use the net proceeds from this offering primarily to repay short-term debt outstanding under its $950 million commercial paper program, fund infrastructure spending to enhance the safety and reliability of the company's system and for general corporate purposes. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make an offer, solicitation or sale in such jurisdiction. The public offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement that has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. A preliminary prospectus supplement related to the offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement relating to the shares of common stock offered in the offering may be obtained when available by contacting any of the following underwriters: J.P. Morgan c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions 1155 Long Island Avenue Edgewood, New York 11717 Telephone: 866-803-9204 Goldman, Sachs & Co. Prospectus Department 200 West Street New York, NY 10282 Telephone: 866-471-2526 Facsimile: 212-902-9316 Email: prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com Morgan Stanley 180 Varick Street, Second Floor New York, New York 10014 Attention: Prospectus Department Forward-Looking Statements The matters discussed in this news release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this news release are forward-looking statements made in good faith by the company and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release or in any of the company's other documents or oral presentations, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “goal,” “intend,” “objective,” “plan,” “projection,” “seek,” “strategy” or similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in this news release, including the risks and uncertainties relating to regulatory trends and decisions, the company's ability to continue to access the capital markets and the other factors discussed in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors include the risks and uncertainties discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013 and in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended December 31, 2013. Although the company believes these forward-looking statements to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will approximate actual experience or that the expectations derived from them will be realized. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Atmos Energy Atmos Energy Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, is one of the country's largest natural-gas-only distributors, serving over three million natural gas distribution customers in over 1,400 communities in eight states from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the East to the Rocky Mountains in the West. Atmos Energy also manages company-owned natural gas pipeline and storage assets, including one of the largest intrastate natural gas pipeline systems in Texas and provides natural gas marketing and procurement services to industrial, commercial and municipal customers primarily in the Midwest and Southeast.