Trans Mountain IPO off to a slow start amid B.C. uncertainty
by The Canadian Press
The future of the Trans Mountain expansion has been clouded in doubt, with the anti-pipeline Greens and NDP flex their newly-found muscle in B.C.
TORONTO—Shares in Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion fell in their debut on the Toronto Stock Exchange as political uncertainty swirled around the project.
About 15 minutes after the opening bell, the newly listed shares were trading at $15.77, down 7.24 per cent from the $17 they were priced at in their initial public offering. The first trade was for $16.25.
The $1.75-billion IPO, one of the most widely watched public offerings in years, launched Tuesday.
The Houston-based company had originally set a higher target price for the stock in the $19 to $21 range when preliminary plans for the stock offering were first announced.
Since then, the future of the Trans Mountain expansion has been clouded in doubt, with the anti-pipeline Greens and NDP announcing Monday they have come to an agreement that could see the formation of a minority NDP government in B.C.
Both parties have voiced their opposition to the Trans Mountain expansion, which would see the capacity of a pipeline running from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C., nearly triple to 890,000 barrels of oil per day.
