NEW YORK - Kinder Morgan agreed yesterday to buy El Paso Corp., a natural gas exploration and pipeline company, for about $20.7 billion in one of the biggest energy deals in recent years.
Including the debt owed by El Paso and an affiliated business, El Paso Pipeline Partners, the takeover is valued at about $38 billion.
Kinder Morgan would become the nation’s biggest player in transporting natural gas, with more than 80,000 miles of pipelines.
Kinder Morgan will pay $14.65 in cash, 0.4187 of its own shares, and 0.640 of its warrants for each El Paso share. That values the offer at about $26.87, a 37 percent premium to El Paso’s closing price.
El Paso had planned to spin off its exploration and production businesses, leaving it with its midstream operations, which account for 66 percent of annual revenue. Kinder Morgan said that plan remains intact.
