Another Pipeline Sale Pending -- October 14, 2014

Bloomberg is reporting:

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners could begin an auction of Southern Star as soon as the end of the year, with a potential sale expected in early 2015.

The fund acquired 40 percent of Southern Star in 2010, and acquired the rest of the company in 2012, according to company statements. The Owensboro, Kentucky-based company is the holding company for Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline Inc., which operates a 6,000-mile natural gas transmission system throughout the Midwestern U.S.

Takeovers of companies that help move and process oil and gas have increased this year, as buyers including Targa Resources Corp. and Williams Partners LP seek to increase their scale amid a pickup in U.S. energy production. There have been more than $100 billion in such deals so far this year, a nearly three-fold increase from a year earlier.

The fund took full ownership just two years ago (2012); I vaguely remember that but it doesn't appear I posted that story. Targa was in the news just the other day.