The New Mexico Gas Co. annual report as well as other documents indicate the closely held firm is well capitalized and recently paid a dividend to stockholders.

New Mexico Gas assumed the natural-gas assets of the Public Service Company of New Mexico on Jan. 30, 2009, so its annual report covers 11 months of business through the end of 2009. It was filed with the state Public Regulation Commission on April 30, 2010.

When it bought PNM's gas business for $653 million, New Mexico Gas also entered into a credit agreement with the Royal Bank of Canada and a syndicate of lenders for a $250 million loan as well as a $125 million line of credit, according to the annual report. It also received an equity investment of $387 million from its parent company.

New Mexico Gas is owned by a Delaware-based holding company, New Mexico Gas Intermediate Inc., which is wholly owned by the Michigan-based Continental Energy Systems LLC.

Continental, whose president and CEO is Albuquerque native George A. Schreiber Jr., the son of a former PNM chairman, also owns natural-gas businesses in Michigan and Alaska.

After 11 months of operations, New Mexico Gas reported $286 million in revenue from its 498,000 customers. The net income for federal taxes was $47 million.

New Mexico Gas has just 100 shares of common stock, and the ownership was not part of the disclosure. But in its most recent filing to the PRC on Dec. 21, 2010, company Vice President and Treasurer Ryan A. Shell said that under PRC compliance, "the exact amount of the dividend, once paid, will be provided to the commission."

And that amount — $6 million.