Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) purchased approximately 188 million shares in Asciano Limited (AIO) last month, representing an approximate 14.9% interest in the company.
Brookfield Infrastructure reported strong 2015 third-quarter results; it benefited from the contribution from its newly acquired communications infrastructure assets in addition to solid organic growth across its business. Its generated funds from operations was about 91 cents per unit for the quarter, about 6 cents more from the same quarter of last year.
Payout ratio for the quarter was 67%, which was within the target range of 60% to 70%; due to the higher earnings generated from operations and a gain on the sale of its New England electricity transmission operations, net income for the quarter grew by 16 cents per unit from the same quarter of a year before
Recently Kinder Morgan (KMI) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners announced that they agreed to jointly acquire from Myria Holdings the 53% equity interest in Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America that they do not already own.
Natural Gas Pipeline, which is currently operated by Kinder Morgan, is one of the largest interstate pipeline systems in the country, with approximately 9,200 miles of pipeline.
This partnership shows that Natural Gas Pipeline is well-positioned to take full advantage of future opportunities and provide natural gas transportation and storage services to its customers. Kinder Morgan will increase its ownership interest to 50% from 20% while BIP will raise its stake to 50% from 27%.
About Kinder Morgan
The company began operations through its predecessor, the Kimco Corporation, which was organized in 1966; the company has owned and operated neighborhood and community shopping centers for more than 50 years.
During the third quarter the company delivered a 16% increase for dividends over the third quarter of 2014, Kinder Morgan’s 15th quarterly dividend raise since it went public in February 2011.
Approximately 21% of the third-quarter growth was organic versus the same period in 2014, with the remainder coming from acquisitions.
Driven by strong performance at its liquids terminals and various expansions across its network, the company's earnings grew.
Kinder Morgan expects it will continue to operate Natural Gas Pipeline, and the deal with Brookfield will be immediately accretive to its cash available to pay dividends.
Competitors
Kinder Morgan’s competitors are Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) and Enterprise Products Partners LPÂ (EPD).
Kinder Morgan is trading at a P/E ratio of 45.31 while Enterprise Products is trading at 19.77, but Williams Companies is trading at a higher ratio of 82.54.
All three companies have a negative one-year EPS ratio –Â 14.90% for Enterprise Products, 57% for Kinder Morgan and 82.30% for Williams Companies.
Last trade
In the third quarter Kinder Morgan did not lose its position in any portfolio while it got new positions in the portfolios of Caxton Associates (Trades, Portfolio) and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio). It saw a huge increase of 571.00% by Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) and another huge increase of 273.83% by Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio). RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio) increased his stake by 3.04% while Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) and Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) reduced their stakes in Kinder Morgan.
