Deadline missed for Trans Mountain resale

The government’s CAN$4.5 billion (US$3.4 billion) purchase of the pipeline and expansion project gave it to 22 July to co-market the pipeline with an eye to selling it to a third party.

A quick sale would have effectively allowed the government to substitute in another buyer for the current deal to be finalised.

That deadline Sunday has passed, reports Bloomberg.

The deal will be finalised with the government as the new owner, and it will seek a new buyer without Kinder Morgan’s help, amid fears of legal and political delays. About a dozen parties have signed non-disclosure agreements as part of the process for a potential resale, and the project is seen likely to end up being bought by a Canadian-led consortium, as opposed to a single buyer.

The Trans Mountain sale is scheduled to close in either Q3 or early Q4, as the project faces continued opposition from the British Columbia premier and awaits a key court ruling. Kinder Morgan’s Canadian unit declined to comment beyond previous statements that it is working with the government to find a buyer, and it referred questions on the status of those efforts to the government.

“We have no interest in being a long-term owner of a pipeline, but we will be the temporary caretaker,” spokesman Daniel Lauzon said, when asked about a sale. “We won’t rush that.”