Enbridge Energy planning to raise $1 billion of capital, $600 million of equity

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., Feb. 2 - Enbridge Energy Partners, LP plans to raise $1 billion of capital and $600 million of equity to help cover funding requirements in 2009 and 2010, Stephen Letwin, executive vice president of Enbridge Energy, said Monday during the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

Based on current capital expenditure and cash flow projections for 2009 and 2010, the company believes it will have funding requirements of close to $2 billion for the period, he said.

"We will continue to assess the markets throughout the year in order to determine the best alternatives to get this capital and the appropriate timing," Letwin said.

On the equity side, the company is looking at a combination of possibilities that could include support from identified investors, sales of non-core assets, asset monetization and public market transactions, he said.

Letwin said the company would look for a strategy that allows it to maintain its investment-grade rating.

"We are working extremely hard in order to evaluate the best alternatives to raise the capital that we require to complete our main expansion projects in a way that is consistent with our main mandate, which is to maximize value to unitholders," Letwin said.

The company expects capital expenditures to be about $1.6 billion in 2009, with the primary expenditures being the start of construction of the Alberta Clipper and continued construction of the Southern Access Expansion Stage II project.

"Even under the current environment of tight and relatively expensive access to capital, these projects add value to the partnership and unitholders," Letwin said.

Enbridge had liquidity of $1.8 billion at Dec. 31, an adequate amount to provide short-term funding for its capital program and the necessary flexibility to access the capital markets, he said.

Enbridge is a crude oil and petroleum company based in Houston.

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