M&As this week: Laclede, AET Tankers, Abastible, Con Edison

The Laclede Group, Inc has reached an agreement with Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC for the acquisition of EnergySouth, Inc The $390m transaction will allow Laclede to deliver reliable natural gas services to customers in Alabama and Mississippi.

Upon completion of the takeover, EnergySouth will own utility business, while non-utility business will be held by Sempra.

Moelis & Company LLC and JP Morgan Securities LLC are the financial advisors to Laclede and Sempra, respectively. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and J Latham & Watkins LLP are the legal advisors for the deal.

AET Tankers Pte Limited is expanding its tanker fleet through the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in Paramount Tankers Corp, a joint venture between Golden Energy Tanker Holdings Corporation and AET Tankers.

The joint venture owns six Aframax medium-sized crude tankers, each with the capacity to carry up to 120,000 metric tonnes of crude oil.

AET Tankers has signed an agreement with Golden Energy for the $56.45m acquisition, which is scheduled for completion by September 2016.

Abastible SA has agreed to acquire Duragas SA, from Repsol SA, to expand its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution operations in South America, in a $33m deal.

Abastible also made a pact with Repsol to buy the Solgas LPG unit in Peru for $302m.

The transaction is in line with the Repsol’s strategy to dispose non-strategic assets worth more than $7bn by 2020.

Con Edison Transmission, Inc, a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc, has announced that it will acquire a 50% stake in Stagecoach Gas Services LLC from Crestwood Equity Partners LP to expand its midstream business in the US.

The deal implies a total value of $975m, which will be funded by Con Edison through a debt-equity combination.

Con Edison and Crestwood (operator) will hold an equal stake in Stagecoach Gas upon the completion of the deal in the second quarter of 2016.

Con Edison has appointed Barclays Capital Inc as the financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP as the legal advisor. Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and Husch Blackwell LLP are the financial and legal advisors to Crestwood.