GE, Caisse buy gas pipeline from AIG

General Electric Co. and Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec recently agreed to purchase Southern Star Central Corp.’s gas-pipeline system for $362 million from AIG Highstar Capital LP.
This purchase almost doubles GE’s pipeline assets.
GE and Caisse will assume $476 million in debt and preferred stock. GE Commercial Finance Energy Financial Services will hold a 60% stake in Southern Star, while Caisse will hold 40%.
General Electric’s energy finance business is buying assets to benefit from rising energy costs, including the tripling of natural gas prices since 2002. In November it partnered with Southern Union Co. to buy CrossCountry Energy LLC’s 7,400 mile pipeline for $2.5 billion, with each company owning half. The GE unit, based in Stamford, Connecticut, invests about $3 billion yearly in energy projects.
The Southern Star pipeline spans 6,000 miles through Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. It includes 39 compressor stations and eight gas-storage fields. The system supplies customers in the Missouri cities of Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield, as well as Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas.