EnLink Midstream, LLC (NYSE:ENLC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Dilanka Seimon: Hi Zach, this is Dilanka here. Naturally, we’ll start with in our backyard with assets we already have. So, for the moment, we are focused on expanding our existing assets but as we evaluate those and bring those to market first in parallel, we’ll look at third-party opportunities as well, but we’d like to focus here in the near-term on our assets, particularly not only because of the expansion capacity there, but also the locations are very advantageous in connectedness, et cetera. So, there are some advantage to expanding those assets because we’re already pretty well connected.

Zack Van Everen: Got it. That makes sense. And pivoting to the Permian, you mentioned Matterhorn is on track. I think the last update I remember seeing is in service by, call it, mid-2024, maybe July is that. Is there anything you can update there on a time line of what quarter it’s expecting to come into service?

Ben Lamb: Well, I think that the WhiteWater team would tell you second half of 2024, I think it’s a bit early to say exactly in what month but very much on schedule and on budget at this point. .

Zack Van Everen: Okay, perfect. That’s all I had. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sunil Sibal with Seaport Global. Please proceed with your question.

Sunil Sibal: Yes, hi good morning everyone. So first off, I think you mentioned on the call a noncore asset sale. I was curious if you could provide some clarity around that in terms of the magnitude and use of proceeds? And then a little bit broader question with regard to your goals of returning capital to equity holders as well as credit ratings. How should we be kind of thinking about capital allocation going forward?

Ben Lamb: Well, the start on the asset sale, we sold most of our Ohio River Valley assets this morning for gross proceeds of about $59 million and that’s obviously a modest-sized asset. That’s a valuation of about six times run rate EBITDA. While it’s a great business, it’s just not core to EnLink in 2023 and 2024. And so it was time to find a buyer for whom it fit better benefit for us. In terms of the use of proceeds, the first thing that we will do is to maintain the leverage ratio. And so the first $35 million or $40 million will just go to debt reduction. But that does leave $20 million or $25 million additional, and that goes back to Brian’s question at the beginning here, there may be an opportunity to revisit the size of this year’s unit repurchase authorization and perhaps go beyond the $200 million the Board has authorized previously, both to handle the proceeds of that asset sale, but also the fact that our free cash flow after distributions is in excess of the $200 million program.

And remind me the second part of your question? Yes. Well, I’ll kind of revisit again what we talked about with Brian. We really like the unit repurchase as an option in capital allocation as opposed to a higher distribution. So, while the Board may look at the distribution for 2024, just like it did in 2023 and make an adjustment, you should expect to see the share repurchase remains a significant part of our capital allocation plan. As we pointed out in the prepared remarks, if you go back to a couple of years ago, we’ve eliminated about 7% of the shares outstanding just through this consistent buyback opportunity. And we think that, that is a good way to reward our equity investors.

Sunil Sibal: Understood. And then on CO2 pipeline business, we have seen some CO2 pipeline projects get into regulatory issues in some other states. So, I was curious if you could update us on your regulatory process, have you seen any impact of that or what we are seeing in other states with regard to your discussions with your regulators?