The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, June 19, 2009

Article Excerpt

TRANSCANADA CORP., $31.49, Toronto symbol TRP, will buy the 20.01% of the Keystone pipeline that it doesn’t already own from its partner, ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP), for $550 million U.S. Keystone will pump crude oil from Alberta to refineries in Illinois. The first phase should start operating early next year. TransCanada plans to extend Keystone to the U.S. Gulf Coast by 2012. Aside from the purchase price, TransCanada will assume $200 million U.S. in related short-term debt. In all, Keystone will cost $12 billion U.S. to build. TransCanada and ConocoPhillips have spent $2.7 billion U.S. to date. To put these figures in context, TransCanada’s market cap is $19.4 billion (Canadian). TransCanada already has contracts for 83% of Keystone’s capacity. This cuts the project’s risk. To pay for this purchase and finish the pipeline, TransCanada will issue up to 58.4 million common shares at $31.50 each. This should raise $1.8 billion. The new shares will increase the total outstanding by around 10%. The stock fell…