Energy Transfer LP (Energy Transfer) and Crestwood Equity Partners LP (Crestwood) announced that the parties have entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Energy Transfer will acquire Crestwood in an all-equity transaction valued at approximately $7.1 billion, including the assumption of $3.3 billion of debt, based on the closing price on August 15, 2023.
Under the terms of the agreement, Crestwood common unitholders will receive 2.07 Energy Transfer common units for each Crestwood common unit. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to the approval of Crestwood’s unitholders, regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions. Upon closing, Crestwood common unitholders are expected to own approximately 6.5% of Energy Transfer’s outstanding common units.
Complementary assets
Crestwood’s system includes gathering and processing assets located in the Williston, Delaware and Powder River basins, including approximately 2.0 billion cubic feet per day of gas gathering capacity, 1.4 billion cubic feet per day of gas processing capacity and 340 thousand barrels per day of crude gathering capacity. If consummated, this transaction would extend Energy Transfer’s position in the value chain deeper into the Williston and Delaware basins while also providing entry into the Powder River basin. These assets are expected to complement Energy Transfer’s downstream fractionation capacity at Mont Belvieu, as well as its hydrocarbon export capabilities from both its Nederland Terminal in Texas and the Marcus Hook Terminal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This transaction is also expected to provide benefits to Energy Transfer’s NGL & Refined Products and Crude Oil businesses with the addition of strategically located storage and terminal assets, including approximately 10 million barrels of storage capacity, as well as trucking and rail terminals. These systems are anchored by predominantly investment-grade producer customers with firm, long-term contracts, and significant acreage dedications.
Positive financial impact
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to distributable cash flow per unit as well as neutral to Energy Transfer’s leverage metrics upon closing. Similar to Energy Transfer, Crestwood’s cash flows are supported by primarily fee-based revenues from long-term contracts with investment-grade counterparties. In addition, with the increased scale and strengthened balance sheet, Energy Transfer expects to be able to improve on the current cost of financing for the acquired debt securities. Structured as a 100% unit-for-unit exchange, the transaction is tax-efficient to Crestwood unitholders and is anticipated to position both partnerships for long-term value upside through the combination.
Energy Transfer also expects to achieve at least $40 million of annual run-rate cost synergies before additional benefits of financial and commercial opportunities.
Compelling value creation for Crestwood unitholders
Energy Transfer’s premier business model, strong balance sheet and backlog of growth opportunities supports the potential for significant additional value creation over time. The tax-efficient transaction is expected to provide Crestwood unitholders a benefit to distributions per unit and an opportunity to participate in Energy Transfer’s targeted annual distribution per unit growth rate of 3-5%.
