Asset sale benefits Enbridge

Article Excerpt

ENBRIDGE INC. $46.84 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $79.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.7%; www.enbridge.com) will now sell Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (Toronto symbol BIP.UN) its natural gas gathering and processing operations in B.C. and Alberta. Those facilities include 19 natural gas-processing and liquids-handling sites, along with 3,550 kilometres of natural gas pipelines. The sale excludes Enbridge’s main gas pipelines: the Westcoast transmission system in B.C.; and the Alliance pipeline, which pumps gas from Western Canada to Chicago. The company will receive $4.3 billion when it completes the sale in 2019. Including this deal, Enbridge has sold $7.5 billion of its less-important assets this year. That’s well above its original goal of $3.0 billion. The company will use the proceeds to pay down its $61.2 billion in debt. That’s a high 77% of Enbridge’s market cap. Enbridge is still a hold. hold…