Enbridge (ENB) announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to sell its Canadian natural gas gathering and processing business in the Montney, Peace River Arch, Horn River and Liard basins in British Columbia and Alberta to Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) and its institutional partners for a cash purchase price of C$4.31B, subject to customary closing adjustments and receipt of regulatory approvals.

The G&P Business includes 19 natural gas processing plants and liquids handling facilities, with a total operating capacity of 3.3 Bcf/d and 3,550 km of natural gas gathering pipelines. Separate sale agreements have been entered into for those facilities currently governed by provincial regulations, and those governed by federal National Energy Board regulations. The transaction involving the sale of the provincially regulated facilities is expected to close in 2018, while the transaction involving the sale of the federally regulated facilities is anticipated to close in mid-2019. Enbridge said, "Proceeds from these transactions provide significant additional financing flexibility going forward as the Company continues to execute on its current portfolio of secured growth projects.

The Company's outlook for DCF/share through 2020 and its target credit metrics remain unchanged as a result of these asset sales." The company will continue to hold its long-haul regulated natural gas transmission assets which include the Westcoast transmission system in British Columbia and the Alliance pipeline that carries natural gas from western Canada to the Chicago market.