Columbia Pipeline Group, a major player in the Marcellus/Utica midstream, was spun out into its own company in July from parent NiSource (see NiSource/Columbia Pipeline Divorce is Final). The new company has made a number of investments in major projects, including $1.2 billion worth of investments in pipelines for the northeast in 2015 (see Columbia Pipeline 2Q15: Investing $1.2B in NE Projects This Year). With prices plummeting and investments increasing, how does a company like Columbia get more money to keep operating and expanding? One way is to sell debt (bonds and IOUs). Another way, the preferred way in our book, is to sell equity, or stocks. Right on cue Columbia announced yesterday they are floating 51 million shares of new stock in an effort raise money. The company doesn’t say how much they want to raise, but if you do some simple math and multiply this morning’s share price of $19.03 by 51 million you get a whopping $970.5 million–nearly $1 billion! They likely won’t get a full $19.03 per share, but hey, if even if they only get $15 per share that’s still $765M big ones. Here’s the announcement offering new stock in Columbia Pipeline…
