© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Houston-based Spectra Energy Corp. will drop down the remainder of its U.S. storage and transmission assets to its MLP, Spectra Energy Partners. The sum exceeds $11 billion.
Several Texas legal offices are involved. Vinson & Elkins and Bracewell & Giuliani are representing Spectra Energy. Latham & Watkins is advising Spectra Energy’s financial advisor, Morgan Stanley & Co.
Andrews Kurth is representing the conflicts committee of the board of directors of Spectra Energy Partners’ General Partner. Evercore Partners is the conflict committee’s financial advisor, which Baker Botts is representing.
Partner Doug Bland and associate Sarah Hurt, both in Houston, lead V&E’s energy M&A team. Also assisting from the firm’s Houston office are partners Gillian Hobson, Matt Pacey, John Lynch, Tom Wilson, Larry Nettles, and Jay Seegers; and associates Albert Osueke, Nate Thomas, Brandon Tuck, Jared Whalen, Ryan Carney and David Snyder.
Partner Brian Bloom from V&E’s Dallas office, New York partner Mike Rosenwasser and lawyers from the firm’s Washington, D.C. office are also involved.
From Bracewell, Houston partner Michael Telle and New York partners Robin Miles and Jonathan Wry are the lead attorneys. Also assisting are Dallas counsel Ian Brown, Houston associate Erica Hogan and New York associate Rebecca Keep.
Latham’s team comes from the Houston office, with corporate partner Bill Finnegan and associate Matthew Williams as the lead attorneys. Tim Fenn is advising on tax matters.
Andrews Kurth’s lead attorney, partner Bill Cooper, comes from the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, but most of the lawyers involved in the deal come from Andrews Kurth’s Houston office. They are: partners Mark Young, Robert McNamara, Chris Fenelon, Matt Hoeg, O’Banion Williams, and Tim McConn; and associates Jordan Hirsch, Jerry Chandapillai, Brooks Antweil, Tami Wall, Andrew Bethune, Alison Chen and Matt Grunert.
Austin partner Lisa Shelton is also working on the deal, as well as Shemin Proctor, the managing partner of the firm’s Washingon, D.C. office who divides her time between there and Houston.
The Baker Botts team comprises of partner Hillary Holmes and associate Monica White, both from the firm’s Houston office.
The drop-down will transform Spectra Energy Partners into one of the largest fee-based MLPs in the country.
Other assets included in the drop-down are the other half of the Express-Platte pipeline and the all of the company’s interest in the Sand Hills and Southern Hills pipelines.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.
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