Calgary, Alberta-based EnCana Corp. is close to selecting a winning bidder for gas storage facilities it put on the block late last year. Final bids have been received and an announcement is expected soon, says one M&A tracker. The value of the assets and the identity of bidders could not be determined. EnCana announced plans to sell the facilities in June 2005. EnCana spokesman Alan Boras says it plans to choose a winner sometime in the first quarter but he declined to be more specific.
UBS and RBC Capital Markets are managing the sale for the natural gas company. Among the facilities included are the 105 bcf AECO Hub in Alberta, the 14 bcf Wild Goose in California, and the 15 bcf Salt Plains in Oklahoma. Also included in the auction is the 40 bcf Starks facility in Louisiana, which is in development. The assets represent almost all of EnCana’s gas storage facilities and is one of the largest such sales, says one M&A official.
Calls to Tom Osbourne, managing director at UBS in New York, and to Geoff Cohen, managing director at RBS in Toronto, were not returned.