Canada—On September 28, 2022, Enbridge Inc. and a consortium of 23 Treaty 6 and Treaty 8 First Nations and Métis communities located in northern Alberta (through a newly formed entity, Athabasca Indigenous Investments) announced a partnership transaction involving the acquisition by Athabasca Indigenous Investments of an 11.57% equity interest in seven major pipelines in Enbridge Inc.’s pipeline system that services the oil sands areas of northern Alberta for CA$1.12 billion. This landmark collaboration represents the largest Indigenous partnership in the Energy sector in North America to date.

The investment was funded primarily by the issuance of approximately CA$865.2 million of fixed-rate senior secured amortizing bonds rated A(low) by DBRS Morningstar in a project-finance style offering arranged by BMO Capital Markets. The remainder was financed by a CA$250 million equity loan guaranteed by the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation.

Dentons acted for BMO Capital Markets in connection with the bond offering, and for Bank of Montreal in connection with a letter of credit facility that will provide debt service reserve support for the bonds.

A cross-practice team of banking and finance, energy and capital markets lawyers was led by Bill Jenkins, George Antonopoulos, Dan Shea, Radha Khosla and Jessica Myers, with support from Derek Kurrant, Stephanie Campbell, Courtney Burton, Byron Reynolds, Dan Collins, Dan Cerchia, Jesse Standing, Riley Bender, Joshua Mamdani, Stewart Maier, Samantha Morden, Ana Cherniak-Kennedy, and Kiana Mozaffari.

The energy sector is fast-changing and Dentons continues to be an advisor of choice for Canadian and global companies, providing innovative and strategic advice to achieve your business goals.

Read the official news release from Enbridge Inc. and Athabasca Indigenous Investments.

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