There may only be a few more weeks left before 2015 draws to a close, but there was still time for another large midstream acquisition as EnLink Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: ENLK) reached an agreement to acquire substantially all of Tall Oak Midstream LLC’s assets from Tall Oak and its equity partner EnCap Flatrock Midstream for $1.55 billion.

This acquisition follows the $100 million acquisition of LPC Crude Oil Marketing LLC, the $600 million of Coronado Midstream Holdings LLC, the $143 million acquisition of Delaware Basin assets from Matador Resources Co. (NYSE: MTDR), and the $40 million acquisition of a 50% interest in the Deadwood gas processing plant from Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA).

While speaking at Hart Energy’s Marcellus-Utica Midstream conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., at the beginning of 2015, EnLink’s CEO Barry Davis said that the market downturn presented strong acquisition opportunities for EnLink due to its size and strong balance sheet.

As the year ends, this strategy is still a focal point for the company, according to Davis. “Extraordinary opportunities happen in extraordinary times, and EnLink was able to take advantage of this opportunity due to our partnership with Devon Energy Corp.,” he said during a conference call to discuss the deal.

“EnLink operates from a position of competitive strength because we were purposefully built to not only withstand challenging market conditions, but also to take advantage of attractive opportunities such as this.”

Davis said that EnLink had been planning for growth through acquisition when the company was formed last year and that this recent acquisition was a part of this strategy more than a reaction to current market conditions.

“This is exactly the type of transaction we contemplated we would be able to do because of our unique partnership,” Davis said. “We targeted certain core areas with central Oklahoma as one of these areas and targeted the Tall Oak assets once we saw the structuring of the franchise position they had.”

The Tall Oak assets are located in the Stack and CNOW plays in the Cana Woodford and include the 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) Chisholm cryogenic natural gas processing plant in the Stack play, the 75 MMcf/d Battle Ridge cryogenic gas processing plant in the CNOW play, and a 42-mile, 16-inch high-pressure header pipeline currently under construction that will have a total capacity of 150 MMcf/d and connect the Chisholm and Battle Ridge plants. In addition, the Chisholm plant will be expanded to 300 MMcf/d in the third-quarter of 2016 and could be increased to a total of 700 MMcf/d depending on future volume requirements.

EnLink and Devon (NYSE: DVN) were able to work together to complete the Tall Oak acquisition and Devon’s acquisition of Felix Energy, which will provide EnLink and Devon with a stronghold in the Stack formation. There is also room for future growth by both entities in the region.

Upon completion of Felix Energy, Devon will have the largest position in the Stack formation and will be EnLink’s largest customer on the Tall Oak system. Devon will also support growth in the region with five-year minimum volume commitments for gather and processing on the dedicated Felix acreage. Expansions are also planned on the Tall Oak system to keep pace with growth in the region.

“This is an important step forward in our growth strategy and expands our asset footprint in one of the most attractive regions in North America,” Davis said.

The acquisition price will be paid over two installments with the initial $1 billion paid at closing and the remaining $500 million paid on the first anniversary of the closing. EnLink anticipates that the acquisition will also be immediately accretive while not negatively impacting the company’s investment grade rating, impact its distribution or limit its near-term additional leverage.

Frank Nieto can be reached at fnieto@hartenergy.com.

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