The equity capital markets are beginning to thaw for master limited partnerships. Amid sustained low commodity prices that have tempered growth expectations, and the sustainability of dividends, industry participants are privately marketing plans to select groups of institutional investors, before going public with details. PIPEs (private investments in public entities), capital-committed stock sales, and confidential marketing are the preferred funding formats. All impart costs in the form of sizeable discounts, though they are all preferable to the retail-centric overnight placements that were a staple of the industry in good times. "Investment banks are doing what they should have been doing all along," one energy banker told IFR. "It is very significant for companies to show that they have access to capital, rather than the discount they are paying."
展开▼
