Morgan Stanley Infrastructure takes complete ownership of Southern Star Central

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure has announced that it has increased its ownership stake to 100% of the common equity of Southern Star Central Corp, parent company of Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline (Southern Star).

Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline provides gas transmission and natural gas storage facilities to several cities and power generation providers in the US Mid-West.

The company receives its gas supplies from major producing regions of Hugoton, Anadarko and Rocky Mountain basins and owns 6,000 miles of mainline and branch transmission pipelines, with 2.4 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of mainline delivery capacity.

An extensive storage network of eight underground storage fields has a total working capacity of around 47Bcf, aggregating to a delivery capacity of approximately 1.3 Bcf per day.

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Head of Americas Investing John Veech said that the company has acquired full ownership of a regulated core infrastructure asset.

"We have worked closely with Southern Star’s seasoned management team to initiate growth projects and implement a strategic capital expenditures programme," said Veech.

While significant capital expenditures incurred over the last two years, Southern Star also has a number of growth projects that have been completed or in various stages of completion.

Southern Star president and chief executive officer Jerry Morris added: "Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners has been a very strong partner, and with their support and guidance we have strategically grown our capabilities and implemented critical operational improvements across the system."

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Image: Morgan Stanley office on Times Square in New York, US. Photo: courtesy of Jenix88.