Ares Management Corporation announced Tuesday that a fund managed by its Infrastructure and Power strategy signed a definitive agreement to sell its 22.5 percent ownership interest in Meade Pipeline Co LLC to a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Partners, LP for approximately $286 million.
Meade owns approximately 39 percent of the Central Penn Line, a 185-mile pipeline that begins in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, and extends to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Central Penn is the greenfield portion of the larger Atlantic Sunrise project operated by The Williams Companies through Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC.
The Central Penn Line became operational in October 2018. Through interconnection with the Transco pipeline system, it has the capacity to deliver up to approximately 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the northeastern Marcellus-producing area to markets in the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.
A future expansion opportunity, which is expected to add approximately 0.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas capacity to Central Penn through the addition of compression at new and existing stations, is included in the transaction.
“Our Meade Pipeline investment demonstrates Ares’ investment strategy to partner in the development of critical infrastructure assets, bring them online and ultimately create value for our fund investors,” Keith Derman, partner of Ares and co-head of Ares Infrastructure and Power, said.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.