Williams announced Wednesday it has gotten early antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its planned sale of the Kern River Gas Transmission system to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. The sale, which was announced last week, is expected to close by March 31.

In addition, Williams said it planned to file Wednesday pro forma financial information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reflecting its Kern River business as a discontinued operation. The information would supplement Williams’ previously issued consolidated financial statements that were included in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, the company noted.

On March 7, Williams announced that it had signed a definitive agreement with Des Moines, IA-based MidAmerican, a company owned by Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway Inc., to sell the Kern River pipeline for $450 million in cash and the assumption of $510 million in debt (see Daily GPI, March 8, 2002).

The sale is part of an effort by Williams to improve its balance sheet, specifically to clear away the red ink the company incurred from its former telecommunications subsidiary, Williams Communications Group.

Kern River will become a unit of MidAmerican upon closure of the sale. MidAmerican is expected to complete previously announced system expansions to more than double Kern River’s capacity to meet growing natural gas demand in the West, according to Williams. The 926-mile Kern River system, which extends from Wyoming to California, has a current design capacity of 835 MMcf/d.

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