Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (NASDAQ:MMLP) (the “Partnership”) announces the completion of the divestiture of its 20 percent non-operating partnership interests in the West Texas LPG Pipeline Limited Partnership (“WTLPG”) to ONEOK, Inc. The net proceeds of approximately $193.7 million will be used to reduce outstanding borrowings under the Partnership’s revolving credit facility.
Ruben Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Martin Midstream GP LLC, the general partner of the Partnership said, "The WTLPG divestiture is reflective of our commitment to improving the Partnership’s balance sheet and reducing our leverage ratio to below 4.50 times. On a pro-forma basis this sale represents more than a full turn of leverage improvement, or 4.36 times compared to actual leverage of 5.46 times at June 30, 2018. Furthermore, due to our reduced financial leverage Moody’s Investor Services recently revised the Partnership’s rating outlook favorably from stable to positive, while affirming the corporate credit rating of (B2) and senior unsecured debt rating of (Caa1).
"We believe that with the benefits from this sale, the Partnership is now in a position to take advantage of viable growth opportunities including potential drop-downs from our general partner which could drive our distribution coverage ratio to a target of greater than 1.2 times.”