Canadian oil and gas pipeline giant Enbridge announced a large asset sale on Wednesday and Texas lawyers from two different firms advised on it.
Norton Rose Fulbright counseled Enbridge’s U.S. affiliate on the sale of Midcoast Operating to ArcLight Capital Partners-backed AL Midcoast Holdings for $1.12 billion in cash.
The team was led by Houston partner Deborah Gitomer. It included Houston partners Steve Kuntz on tax and Stephanie Schroepfer on employee benefits, counsel Bob Greenslade of Houston and Dallas on environmental, senior associate Donald Ainscow in Dallas on corporate and associate Samantha Speakmon in Houston on energy transactions. A partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office helped on antitrust matters.
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Justin Stolte in Houston led the deal for ArcLight. He was assisted by corporate associates Matt Savage, Jordan Silverman, Graham Valenta and Lindsay Ellis along with Houston partners Shalla Prichard (on finance) and James Chenoweth (on tax). An associate in the firm’s New York office also pitched in.
Citi was Enbridge’s financial adviser on the sale.
Fulbright’s Gitomer has advised Enbridge on transactions before. In 2016 she led the team assisting Enbridge on forming MarEn Bakken Co., a joint venture between affiliates of Enbridge Energy Partners and Marathon Petroleum, as well as MarEn’s acquisition of 49 percent of the holding company that owned 75 percent of the Bakken Pipeline System from Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners for $2 billion.
Shareholders have been pushing Enbridge to sell assets so it can cut its $60 billon debt load, some of which is related to its $28 billion purchase of Spectra Energy last year.
Enbridge also announced it had sold 49 percent of its wind and solar power assets in North America and Germany to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $1.3 billion. It said it may sell other U.S. renewable power assets as well.
Midcoast handles Enbridge’s U.S. natural gas and natural gas liquids gathering, processing, transportation and marketing businesses serving basins in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
Bostin-based ArcLight is an experienced midstream investor. In 2007 it backed AL Gulf Coast Terminals, which owned the Houston Fuel Oil Terminal, one of the largest providers of crude and residual fuel oil storage in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2011 ArcLight sold the terminal to Alinda Capital Partners for undisclosed terms. Last year, Alinda sold it to SemGroup for $2.1 billion. Gibson Dunn advised SemGroup on that deal, along with Vinson & Elkins.