Kinder Morgan Energy Partners said on Monday that it had agreed to sell some pipeline and processing properties to Tallgrass Energy Partners for about $1.8 billion in cash, in the latest asset sale by the company in the wake of its takeover of the El Paso Corporation.
Among the assets that Tallgrass is buying are Kinder Morgan's interstate gas transmission business, the Trailblazer Pipeline Company and a 50 percent stake in the Rockies Express Pipeline.
The sale is one of many that Kinder Morgan has undertaken in the wake of its $21.1 billion deal for the El Paso Corporation, some of which were required by the Federal Trade Commission. The company has already sold off exploration and production assets to an investor consortium led by Apollo Global Management and Riverstone Holdings in a $7.15 billion leveraged buyout.
“We would prefer to keep all of these assets, but we anticipated divestiture of certain assets in the Rockies would be necessary to obtai n F.T.C. approval,†Richard D. Kinder, Kinder Morgan's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “I want to thank the employees involved in this transaction for their diligence and hard work. It is very gratifying that Tallgrass is interested in retaining the employees of the entities that will be divested.â€
Tallgrass is owned by the company's management, the private equity firm Kelso & Company and an investor consortium that includes the hedge fund Magnetar Capital.
Kinder Morgan was advised by Barclays and Citigroup.
