International law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP is advising ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC in connection with the formation of a master limited partnership that will include the midstream businesses of Enogex LLC, which is jointly owned by ArcLight and OGE Energy Corp., and the interstate pipelines and field services businesses of CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
The transaction would create a combined company with assets of nearly $11 billion. The new partnership will own and operate more than 8,400 miles of interstate pipelines, 2,250 miles of intrastate pipelines and 11,000 miles of gathering lines with the capacity to move more than four billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. Additionally, it will have more than 90 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity and 11 major processing plants with nearly two billion cubic feet per day of inlet capacity.
The transaction is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2013. The new partnership is arranging a new $1.4 billion credit facility and $1.05 billion term loan, and the partners intend to consummate an initial public offering within 18 months after closing.
The McDermott team advising ArcLight on the transaction is lead by Blake H. Winburne, partner and global head of the Firm’s Energy Advisory Practice Group, and partner Bradford Gathright, both based in the Firm’s Houston office. McDermott also represented ArcLight in the formation of the original Enogex joint venture with OGE in 2010.
McDermott represents some of the biggest names in the energy, infrastructure and natural resources sectors across a broad range of transactional, regulatory, enforcement, litigation, tax and other matters. Current clients include large multinational companies, private equity investors, independent power and gas producers, developers, industrial and commercial customers, commodity marketers, hedge funds and trade associations. Chambers USA 2012 recognized McDermott’s Energy Advisory Practice for its strength in oil and gas, electric power and renewables, as well as project development, financing, acquisitions and sales.
