Enbridge to get $3.2B in two deals

Firm will achieve goal of raising $3B from non-core asset sales

Shares in Enbridge Inc. rose Wednesday after it announced it will gain nearly $3.2 billion through two deals to sell renewable power facilities in North America and Europe and natural gas gathering and processing assets in the United States.

The deals announced hours before its annual general meeting in Calgary allow Enbridge to declare mission accomplished on its goal of raising $3 billion from non-core asset sales in 2018 to reduce its heavy debt load and help fund its $22-billion growth program.

Enbridge shares rose as high as $41.48 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up about 2.6 per cent from Tuesday’s close.

Enbridge said it had inked a $1.75-billion agreement with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to sell a 49-per-cent stake in most of its wind and solar power assets.

“The monetization of $1.75 billion of renewable assets through our newly formed joint venture with CPPIB is an important step in achieving the objective we set when we rolled out our threeyear plan and strategic priorities in December,” said Enbridge CEO Al Monaco in a news release.

“This deal makes a significant contribution to our $3-billion asset sales target for the year and will also eliminate $500 million of equity capital requirement that we had previously included in our funding plan.”

Separately, the Calgary-based firm said it will also sell Midcoast Operating LP to an affiliate of private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners LLC for about $1.44 billion.

Midcoast operates facilities in Texas and Oklahoma to process and treat natural gas and natural gas liquids.