Enbridge Announces $3.1 Billion Sale of its Interests in Alliance Pipeline and Aux Sable

CALGARY, AB, Dec. 13, 2023 /CNW/ - Enbridge Inc. ("Enbridge") (TSX: ENB) (NYSE: ENB) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its 50.0% interest in Alliance Pipeline ("Alliance") and its 42.7% interest in Aux Sable to Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina") (PPL: TSX) (NYSE: PBA) for a purchase price of $3.1 billion, including non-recourse debt at Alliance of approximately $0.3 billion, and subject to customary closing adjustments.

Alliance delivers liquids rich natural gas sourced in Northeast B.C., Northwest Alberta, and the Bakken region to Chicago. Aux Sable operates NGL extraction and fractionation facilities in both Canada and the U.S., with extraction rights on Alliance, offering connectivity to key U.S. NGL hubs.

The sale price represents an attractive valuation of approximately 11 times projected 2024 EBITDA for Alliance and approximately 7 times for Aux Sable, which is in line with other commodity exposed businesses.

"We are pleased to continue our strong track record of surfacing value for shareholders through an ongoing capital recycling program. With this divestiture, we will have raised ~$14 billion since 2018 at attractive valuations," said Pat Murray, EVP and Chief Financial Officer. "Today's transaction reinforces our disciplined approach to capital allocation. We remain committed to optimizing our portfolio, enhancing our industry leading cash flow profile by reducing commodity price exposure, bolstering our financial flexibility, and maintaining a strong balance sheet."

As part of the transaction, Pembina, a long-standing partner on Alliance and the current operator of Aux Sable, will also assume operatorship of Alliance. Enbridge will work closely with Pembina to ensure a safe and orderly transition.

"The Alliance and Aux Sable system has been a reliable and profitable asset for Enbridge for many years. We would like to thank our high-quality team for their commitment to safety and reliability," said Cynthia Hansen, EVP and President, Gas Transmission and Midstream. 

The divestiture represents an important element of Enbridge's financing plan. The sales proceeds will fund a portion of the strategic U.S. gas utilities acquisitions ("the Acquisitions") and be used for debt reduction. Any remaining Acquisitions funding will be satisfied through utilizing any, or all, of the following financing programs available to Enbridge including our ongoing capital recycling program, issuance of further hybrid securities and bonds, reinstatement of our DRIP Program, or at-the-market equity issuances.   

The effective date of the transaction is January 1, 2024, with closing expected to occur in the first half of 2024, subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Enbridge's 2024 financial guidance and near-term growth outlook through 2025 remain unchanged as a result of this announcement.

National Bank Financial and Scotiabank acted as financial advisors and Torys LLP as legal advisor to Enbridge on the transaction.

At Enbridge, we safely connect millions of people to the energy they rely on every day, fueling quality of life through our North American natural gas, oil and renewable power networks and our growing European offshore wind portfolio. We're investing in modern energy delivery infrastructure to sustain access to secure, affordable energy and building on more than a century of operating conventional energy infrastructure and two decades of experience in renewable power. We're advancing new technologies including hydrogen, renewable natural gas, carbon capture and storage and are committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Enbridge's common shares trade under the symbol ENB on the Toronto (TSX) and New York (NYSE) stock exchanges. To learn more, visit us at enbridge.com.

Forward-looking information, or forward-looking statements, have been included in this news release to provide information about Enbridge and its subsidiaries and affiliates, including management's assessment of Enbridge and its subsidiaries' future plans and operations. This information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as ''anticipate'', ''expect'', ''project'', ''estimate'', ''forecast'', ''plan'', ''intend'', ''target'', ''believe'', "likely" and similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking information or statements included or incorporated by reference in this document include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the sale of Enbridge's interests in Alliance Pipeline and Aux Sable (the "Transaction") and related matters, including anticipated transition of operations and employees, expected use of proceeds and expected closing date; Enbridge's 2024 financial guidance and near-term growth outlook; the funding of Enbridge's acquisition of three gas utilities from Dominion Energy, Inc. (the "Acquisitions"); financial strength, capacity and flexibility; expectations on sources of liquidity and sufficiency of financial resources; and approach to capital allocation.

Although Enbridge believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable based on the information available on the date such statements are made and processes used to prepare the information, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. By their nature, these statements involve a variety of assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Material assumptions include assumptions about the following: the expected supply of, demand for and prices of crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), liquified natural gas (LNG) and renewable energy; energy transition, including the drivers and pace thereof; global economic growth and trade; anticipated utilization of our assets;  exchange rates; inflation; interest rates; availability and price of labour and construction materials; the stability of our supply chain; operational reliability and performance; customer, regulatory and stakeholder support and approvals, including with respect to the Transaction and the Acquisitions; anticipated construction and in-service dates; weather; announced and potential acquisition, disposition and other corporate transactions and projects and the timing and impact thereof, including the Transaction and the Acquisitions; governmental legislation; litigation; impact of the Company's dividend policy on its future cash flows; credit ratings; hedging program; expected EBITDA and expected adjusted EBITDA; expected earnings/(loss) and adjusted earnings/(loss); expected earnings/(loss) or adjusted earnings/(loss) per share; expected future cash flows and expected future distributable cash flow (DCF) and DCF per share; estimated future dividends; financial strength and flexibility; debt and equity market conditions; general economic and competitive conditions; ability of management to execute key priorities; and the effectiveness of various actions resulting from the Company's strategic priorities. Assumptions regarding the expected supply of and demand for crude oil, natural gas, NGL, LNG and renewable energy, and the prices of these commodities, are material to and underlie all forward-looking statements, as they may impact current and future levels of demand for the Company's services. Similarly, exchange rates, inflation and interest rates impact the economies and business environments in which the Company operates and may impact levels of demand for the Company's services and cost of inputs and are, therefore, inherent in all forward-looking statements. Due to the interdependencies and correlation of these macroeconomic factors, the impact of any one assumption on a forward-looking statement cannot be determined with certainty, particularly with respect to expected EBITDA, expected adjusted EBITDA, expected earnings/(loss), expected adjusted earnings/(loss), expected DCF and associated per share amounts, and estimated future dividends. The most relevant assumptions associated with forward-looking statements regarding announced projects and projects under construction, including estimated completion dates and expected capital expenditures, include the following: the availability and price of labour and construction materials; the stability of our supply chain; the effects of inflation and foreign exchange rates on labour and material costs; the effects of interest rates on borrowing costs; the impact of weather; and customer, government, court and regulatory approvals on construction and in-service schedules and cost recovery regimes.

Enbridge's forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties pertaining to the realization of anticipated benefits and synergies of projects and transactions including the Transaction and the Acquisitions, successful execution of our strategic priorities, operating performance, the Company's dividend policy, regulatory parameters, litigation, acquisitions and dispositions and other transactions, project approval and support, renewals of rights-of-way, weather, economic and competitive conditions, global geopolitical conditions, political decisions, public opinion, changes in tax laws and tax rates, exchange rates, interest rates, inflation, commodity prices, and supply of and demand for commodities, including but not limited to those risks and uncertainties discussed in this and in the Company's other filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators. The impact of any one risk, uncertainty or factor on a particular forward-looking statement is not determinable with certainty as these are interdependent and Enbridge's future course of action depends on management's assessment of all information available at the relevant time. Except to the extent required by applicable law, Enbridge assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made in this news release or otherwise, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Enbridge or persons acting on the Company's behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

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SOURCE Enbridge Inc.