Boardwalk Pipeline unit offering priced at 3.4 percent discount

NEW YORK - Boardwalk Pipeline Partners L.P. (NYSE: BWP) announced on Jan. 20 that a new public offering of eight million units would be priced at a 3.4 percent discount) to the unit’s Jan. 19 closing price.

Units were down 4.2 percent pre-market at $27.29, below the offered price of $27.55 and the Jan. 19 close of $28.51. The stock closed at $27.50, down $1.01 on the day.

The oil-and-gas transporter has expanded its pipeline network in the shale-gas regions of the Southeast as its transportation volumes grow.

Loews Corp., a conglomerate led by New York's Tisch family, holds a roughly 20 percent stake in Boardwalk.

Boardwalk Pipeline said it expects to raise about $217.5 million. The partnership may use some or all of the proceeds for other general partnership purposes, which may include acquiring additional equity interests in Boardwalk HP Storage Company, LLC, a joint venture between the partnership and Boardwalk Pipelines Holding Corp., an affiliate of the partnership's general partner. 

The partnership has granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,200,000 common units.

Boardwalk Pipeline 1Q profit down 8.1 percent on higher costs

NEW YORK - Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: BWP) on April 29 announced that first-quarter profit fell 8.1 percent as lower sales in its storage and lending business and higher operating costs reduced the partnership's bottom line.

Boardwalk posted a first-quarter profit of $83 million, or 42 cents a unit, compared with a prior-year profit of $90.3 million, or 46 cents a unit. The latest quarter included $11.8 million in debt-retirement charges and a $5 million charge stemming from a compressor station fire. Overall operating revenue grew 3.5 percent to $311 million.

The earnings per unit significantly missed the most recently forecast per-share earnings of 48 cents on revenue of $313 million by analysts at Thomson Reuters.

Revenue from gas transportation, the company's largest sales segment, grew 6.8 percent, while gas storage revenue fell 8.6 percent. Parking and lending revenue dropped 66 percent due to unfavorable market conditions.

Loews Corp., a conglomerate led by New York's Tisch family, holds a 20 percent stake in Boardwalk. (Source: Boardwalk news release)