Two Mergers in Troubled MLP Sector

On Wednesday, Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) said it would acquire Williams Companies Inc.’s (NYSE: WMB) operations in Alberta, Canada, for $1.2 billion. The operations include an oil sands offgas processing plant near Fort McMurray, approximately 260 miles of natural-gas-liquids and olefins pipelines, and additional facilities in Redwater, Alberta. Williams Partners also will take over an expansion project at the Redwater facility.

Offgas is produced as thick bitumen oil from the Alberta oil sands and is converted into usable oil.

The Canadian operations are expected to add the MLP’s earnings, producing $135 million to $160 million in cash flow over the rest of 2014 and $200 million to $240 million in 2015. The partnership’s distribution rate is $3.57 a unit, with a current yield of 7.26%.

Williams Partners will finance the deal with 25.6 million Class D payment-in-kind (PIK) limited-partner units and $25 million in cash. Instead of cash distributions, the PIK units will receive quarterly distributions of additional PIK units. The PIK units can be converted into common units no earlier than February 2016. Williams Partners also has an option to issue up to $200 million of additional PIK units to Williams to fund an offgas expansion project at the Redwater facility.

On Thursday, MPLX L.P. (NYSE: MPLX) said it will buy an additional 13% interest in MPLX Pipe Line Holdings from Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) for $310 million. MPLX will boost its ownership in the pipeline business to 69%. MPLX Pipeline controls one of the largest oil pipeline networks in the nation, plus a barge dock on the Mississippi River and storage facilities.

Marathon owns 23% of MPLX, which went public in October 2012. MPLX says it will boost the company’s annual cash flow by an unspecified amount. But the company’s goal is to boost its distribution rate, currently $1.25 a unit, 15% to 20% a year over the next several years. The current yield is 2.54%.

So, how are the units of each reacting?

Williams Partners units were off 0.6% to $49.50 in early trading Thursday. The partnership has a market cap of $21.6 billion and has traded in a 52-week range of $45.37 to $54.66. Williams Companies, which owns 64% of the MLP, was up 1.2% to $41.71.

MPLX units were down 0.4% to $49.10, against a 52-week range of $32.53 to $50.75. The MLP has a market cap of $3.6 billion. Marathon Petroleum was down 2.4% to $86.18.

Two small add-on deals in MLPs are not going to be enough to fend off some of the real fears in this sector. That being said, this sector needs any good news it can get — and even small mergers can be taken as good news during hard times.