Big restructuring for Enbridge

Article Excerpt

ENBRIDGE INC. $55.52 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 848.8 million; Market cap: $47.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average ; Dividend yield : 3.4 % ; www.enbridge.com) has announced a major reorganization and hiked its dividend by a third. The company plans to transfer its pipelines to 19.9%-owned affiliate Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (Toronto symbol ENF). This company owns 42% of Enbridge Income Fund (Enbridge Inc. owns the remaining 58%), which holds a variety of businesses, including oil and gas pipelines and solar and wind farms. Under the plan, Enbridge will transfer pipelines that pump oil sands crude to the U.S., along with wind farms in Alberta and Quebec, to Enbridge Income Fund. In all, these assets have a book value of $17 billion. To put that in context, Enbridge’s market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares) is $47.5 billion. The plan will free up cash for dividends. As a result, Enbridge has raised its quarterly payout by 32.9%…