The California Public Utilities Comission today issued an order that allows the $15.2 billion management buyout of pipeline operator Kinder Morgan (KMI) to proceed. Kinder Morgan didn’t get everything it wanted in the ruling, which resulted from an ongoing fight it is having with several big oil companies, including ExxonMobil (XOM) and Valero (VLO). But it does mean it can now complete a deal whose existence was first announced almost exactly one year ago. The state regulator’s approval was the last of many hurdles the deal needed to close.
When the deal was announced last year, it was the second-largest private equity deal in history. Some shareholders have complained about the seemingly conflicting roles played by Goldman Sachs (GS); you can read a fuller account of the deal’s twists and turns here.
Kinder Morgan has yet to announce the California ruling. Its spokesman, who gave a comment this afternoon to Reuters, says the deal is still scheduled to close “in the second quarter.”