I guess I will just spam my thread with more posts... lol
I figured I will mention that next month when I get some dividends in (around $5k) I will start building up a position in KMI which is Kinder Morgan.
KMI used to be the largest MLP, but they restructured last year as a C-corp. So they are no longer in the Alerian MLP index.
For anyone that wants to invest in midstream sector, KMI is the largest company ($57 billion) and since they are a c-corp there are no K1s to deal with.
Right now KMI has a yield of 6.97%. The CEO has stated that the dividend should be going up by 10% per year for the next year or two. KMI, like most midstreams, have long term contracts. So they already know how much money they will be getting.
The companies that merged the other day are Energy Transfer Partners and Williams. As part of this deal Energy Transfer is also going to create a c-corp holding (ETC). So people that want to buy in that way can. The underlying MLP companies will still be MLPs so you can buy that way too (ETP, WPZ, SXL).
Another merger/acquisition that happened recently is MPLX buying Markwest. MPLX is sponsored by Marathon Petroleum (i.e. general partner).
Anyway, in both situations the companies are bullish on the midstream business. Companies are taking advantage of the current panic in oil to do M&A.