California Water Service Group (Group) announced it has entered into unsecured revolving credit facilities for the Group and its subsidiaries totaling $550 million for a term of five years. Of the total, $400 million is available to California Water Service (Cal Water), a wholly owned subsidiary of Group, and $150 million is available to Group and the subsidiaries other than Cal Water. Additionally, the credit facilities available to Cal Water may be expanded by up to an incremental $150 million under the Cal Water facility and $50 million under the Group facility, subject to certain conditions. The proceeds from the credit facilities may be used for working capital purposes, including short-term financing of capital projects. The credit facilities replace the prior Group and Cal Water unsecured revolving credit facilities.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated acted as sole lead arranger and sole bookrunner, with CoBank and US Bank as syndication agents and Wells Fargo Bank and Bank of China as co-documentation agents. Bank of America, N.A. is the administrative agent.

“I was extremely pleased with the commitment shown to California Water Service Group from the banks in our syndication,” said Martin A. Kropelnicki, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Given our strong credit rating from Standard & Poor’s and with the strength of our balance sheet, we believed the time was right to replace the existing credit agreement with a new agreement that would extend our terms for an additional five years.”

California Water Service Group is the parent company of California Water Service, Washington Water Service, New Mexico Water Service, Hawaii Water Service, CWS Utility Services, and HWS Utility Services, LLC. Together, these companies provide regulated and non-regulated water service to approximately 2 million people in more than 100 California, Washington, New Mexico, and Hawaii communities. Group's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CWT."