Moody’s: Canadian Companies Still in Hunt for More US Pipelines

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Last year Canadian companies went on a midstream (pipeline) buying spree, snapping up major U.S. companies. In March 2016, MDN reported that Canadian midstream giant TransCanada, lusting for a bigger piece of the Marcellus/Utica pipeline pie, decided to buy Columbia Pipeline Group for $10 billion (see TransCanada Makes Play to Buy Columbia Pipeline for $10B). That deal closed in July (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). Then in September, MDN reported Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. announced an all-stock deal to buy out pipeline operator Spectra Energy, based in Houston, for $28 billion (see Canadian Enbridge Buying US Spectra Energy for $28B). Spectra has a number of critical pipeline infrastructure projects under way or planned in the Marcellus/Utica region, including the planned Access Northeast pipeline to New England, the mighty NEXUS pipeline planned to span Ohio, the currently under construction Algonquin Incremental Marketing (AIM) pipeline project, and three projects (Access South, Adair Southwest and Lebanon Express) under way to expand one of the largest natural gas pipelines in the U.S. (and in the northeast)–the Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) pipeline. The merger was completed in February (see Spectra Energy is No More – $28B Merger with Enbridge Complete). According to a new report by Moody’s Investors Service, last year Canadian companies spent $89 billion to snap up utility and pipeline companies across the U.S. The report’s authors say they “anticipate more” such purchases this year…

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