Williams Partners Issues Redemption Of 4.875% Senior Notes

Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ) along with ACMP Finance Corp. has announced the issuance of a notice of redemption to holders of the issuers’ 4.875% Senior Notes due 2023.

The redemption notice states that issuers will redeem all of the outstanding notes for cash on Jul 3, 2017 at a redemption price equal to the sum of the principal amount of the notes plus the excess, if any, of (a) present value at such time of (i) the redemption price of such note at Dec 15, 2017 plus (ii) any required interest payments due on such note through Dec 15, 2017 (except for currently accrued and unpaid interest) which is calculated using a discount rate equal to the Treasury Rate (as defined in the indenture governing the Notes (the “Indenture”)) plus 50 basis points, discounted to the redemption date on a semi-annual basis (assuming a 360-day year consisting of twelve 30-day months), over (b) the principal amount of such note, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the Redemption Date. The issuers will compute the Treasury Rate no later than the second Business Day (as defined in the Indenture) preceding the Redemption Date.

Williams Partners is a master limited partnership (“MLP”), formed by Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) to acquire, own, and operate a portion of WMB’s midstream assets. The partnership is involved in gathering, transporting, and processing natural gas as well as fractionating and storing NGL.

The partnership restructured its reportable segments from two to four. In 2012, Williams Partners reported in two segments, Gas Pipeline and Midstream Gas and Liquids. Since 2Q13, the partnership reports under Northeast Gathering and Processing, Atlantic-Gulf, West and NGL and Petchem Services, which are more along the geographic lines.

Williams Partners’ stock, however, shows weakness in its price chart. Units of the partnership have lost 5.4% in the last three months, while the Zacks categorized Exploration & Production – MLP Market industry registered a decrease of 3.4%.

Williams Partners currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks from the same space include SunCoke Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SXC) , Enbridge Energy, L.P. (NYSE:EEP) and Canadian Natural Resources Limited Ltd. (TO:CNQ) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

SunCoke Energy posted a positive earnings surprise of 120.0% in the preceding quarter. The company beat estimates in two of the four trailing quarters with an average negative earnings surprise of 35.78%.

Enbridge Energy posted a positive earnings surprise of 128.57% in the preceding quarter. The company beat estimates in three of the four trailing quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 38.22%.

Canadian Natural Resources posted a positive earnings surprise of 30.77% in the preceding quarter. It surpassed estimates in two of the four trailing quarters with an average negative earnings surprise of 275.46%.

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