Shares of oil and natural gas pipeline operator Williams Cos. (NYSE: WMB) are up 24.4% today after the company rejected a $48 billion takeover offer. Though Oklahoma-based Williams did not identify the company that made that offer, Texas-based Energy Transfer Equity (NYSE: ETE) said it made a $53.1 billion offer for rival Williams that was rejected.
“Energy Transfer equity said it would buy all of the outstanding common stock of Williams at $64 per share, which represents a 32.4 percent premium to its closing price on June 19,” according to Reuters.
Williams did, however, express interest in finding a suitor and that is proving to be excellent news for at least one exchange traded fund focused on master limited partnerships (MLPs). The $204.8 million Global X MLP & Energy Infrastructure ETF (NYSEArca: MLPX) is higher by 3.1% Monday, making it one of the day’s top ETF percentage gainers thanks in large part to the fund’s 8.8% weight to Williams entering trading today.
That makes Williams the second-largest holding in MLPX behind only TransCanada (NYSE: TRP). Energy Transfer is the seventeenth-largest holding in MLPX at a weight of nearly 2.1%.
MLPX doesn’t hold more than 25% of its holdings in MLPs due to regulatory restrictions. However, since MLPX is structured as a Regulated Investment Company or Unite Investment Trust, the fund is eligible to pass taxes on capital gains, dividends or interest earned directly to clients or individual investors. This process helps protect investors from double taxation where the company and individual investors would be taxed. [New ETF Avoids MLP Tax Issues]
The ETF is no stranger to MLP industry consolidation having previously benefited from news out last year that Williams was acquiring Access Midstream Partners. MLPX also surged after Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) said it would pay $70 billion to acquire Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Kinder Morgan Management and El Paso Pipeline Partners, a deal that created the largest energy infrastructure company in the U.S. [These ETFs Love the Kinder Morgan News]
MLPX, which tracks the Solactive MLP & Energy Infrastructure Index, charges 0.45% per year and has a trailing 12-month dividend yield of almost 2.5%.
The $8.77 billion Alerian MLP ETF (NYSEArca: AMLP), the largest master limited partnership related ETF, is trading slightly lower today. Williams Partners (NYSE: WPZ) is that ETF’s second-largest holding, but that stock is off 7.7%. AMLP does not hold shares of Williams Cos., according to Alerian data.
Global X MLP & Energy Infrastructure ETF
