Deals - Acquisition, Mergers, Divestitures

Shareholders Approve $20B MarkWest-Marathon Merger

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   |    Tuesday,December 01,2015

At a special meeting held today, unitholders of MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. approved a strategic combination with MPLX LP by voting to approve the merger agreement dated July 11, 2015, as amended. Based on the voting results, approximately 80 percent of the units voted at the special meeting were in favor of the merger agreement.

Source : Shale Experts M&A Database

The transaction will result in MarkWest, the second-largest processor of natural gas in the United States and largest processor and fractionator in the Marcellus and Uticashale plays, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of MPLX, a rapidly growing crude oil and refined products logistics partnership sponsored by Marathon Petroleum Corporation. The combination creates one of the largest master limited partnerships (MLPs) and is expected to generate a mid-20 percent compound annual distribution growth rate through 2019.

Gary R. Heminger, MPLX chairman and chief executive officer, said: "We are pleased the overwhelming majority of MarkWest unitholders voting supported the combination and we look forward to delivering on the significant opportunities in front of the combined partnership. This combination creates a large-cap diversified midstream partnership with an extraordinary growth profile, underpinned by MarkWest’s large organic growth backlog and MPC’s large inventory of MLP-eligible assets."

Frank Semple, MarkWest chairman, president and chief executive officer, said MarkWest and MPLX form a powerful combination to support the ongoing needs of producer customers: "Together with MPLX, MarkWest is exceptionally well-positioned to extend its long history of delivering best-in-class customer service and focused execution on continued midstream infrastructure build-out. Our development of critical midstream solutions will be further enhanced by MPC's strong parental support and a growing inventory of dropdown assets available to the combined partnership. MPC’s significant pipeline and refinery operations will be critical for expanding and integrating MarkWest’s midstream platform throughout some of our nation’s most productive resource plays."

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close Dec. 4, 2015.