Plains All American, Magellan sell half of BridgeTex to Omers for $1.438B

(Aug. 21) – Texas lawyers from two firms won the work on the $1.438 billion sale of a half-stake in the BridgeTex Pipeline Co. by Plains All American Pipeline and Magellan Midstream Partners to an affiliate of Canadian pension fund manager Omers.

The investment marks Omers’ re-entry into the U.S. midstream energy sector.

Vinson & Elkins advised Houston-based Plains with a corporate team led by partner Doug Bland and associate Caroline Kuehn along with associate Josh Rocha and senior associate Luke Edney.

V&E specialists included partners Todd Way and Ryan Carney and associates Brian Russell and Lauren Meyers on tax; partner Larry Nettles on environmental; associate Kristy Fields on executive compensation/benefits and partner Sean Becker on labor/employment; and partner Pat Mizell, counsel Carly Milner and associate Kallie Gallagher on litigation. Financing and antitrust attorneys helped from the firm’s New York and Washington, D.C. offices.

Plains’ general counsel is Richard McGee, who joined the partnership in 2009 from Duke Energy, where he was president of Duke Energy International. Before that the UT Law grad was a partner at V&E.

Sidley Austin counseled Omers with a team led by partner Cliff W. Vrielink. He was aided by private equity associate Chris Folmsbee, global finance associate Cedric E. Seley III and tax partner Angela T. Richards. Lawyers in the firm’s New York and Washington, D.C. offices also helped.

Attorneys at GableGotwals in Oklahoma counseled Tulsa-based Magellan.

Barclays’ Lee Jacobe, Nelson Mabry, Cristina Masson and Aaron Wolf were Plains’ financial advisors.

OMERS used Jefferies’ Pete Bowden, who was recently promoted to global head of the energy banking group. Diggs Gully and Kevin Naegeli also were on the Jefferies team.

Omers will acquire a 30 percent interest in BridgeTex from Plains and a 20 percent interest from Magellan. That will leave Plains with 20 percent and Magellan – which operates the pipeline – with 30 percent.

The parties expect to close the deal in the fourth quarter.

BridgeTex provides crude oil transportation from Colorado City in West Texas to refineries in Houston and Texas City and for export through the Houston Ship Channel.

Michael Ryder, senior managing director of the Americas for Omers Infrastructure (who recently joined from the Blackstone Group), said in a statement that the investment is consistent with its strategy of building significant, long-term investment partnerships with leading corporations.

Plains COO Willie Chiang and Magellan CEO Michael Mears said the Omers investment adds another long-term owner to its joint venture and provides Plains and Magellan with proceeds to fund more growth projects while keeping a meaningful BridgeTex position.

BridgeTex is Omers’ third major investment in U.S. energy infrastructure this year. In March it agreed to buy wind power project developer Leeward Renewable Energy from ArcLight Capital Parters for an undisclosed sum. And earlier this month, it also announced the planned acquisition of a 24 percent stake in Puget Holdings, owner of Puget Sound Energy, Washington state’s oldest regulated energy utility.

Omers Infrastructure had $17 billion in transportation, energy and infrastructure assets worldwide at the end of last year.