TGP...Teekay LNG Partners Killed After Quarterly Distributions Cut 80%

Teekay LNG Partners L.P.

stock plummeted after 80% of its quarterly distributions were cut on Thursday. TGP shares are

$8.28 at $10.10 in early trading. The company announced that it has approved a plan to reduce its quarterly cash distributions to $0.14 per common unit, down from $0.70 per common unit in the third quarter of 2015. Teekay LNG Partners approved plan will commence with the fourth quarter of 2015 distribution payable in February 2016. The Partnership will involve using a significant portion of the Teekay LNG Partners cash flow to fund its equity capital obligations which the company has to reduce debt levels and future profitable growth projects. Business is still strong for Teekay LNG Partners Peter Evensen, Chief Executive Officer of Teekay GP LLC, commented on Thursday that the company's businesses will remain strong, despite the current weakness in capital and global energy markets. Evensen said the Partnership's cash flows remain stable and growing, supported by a large and well-diversified portfolio of fee-based contracts with high quality counterparties. Teekay LNG Partners requires capital and is currently dislocated in the capital markets relative to the stability of our businesses such that the Partnership's cost of equity has increased to the point where it is currently not an economically attractive source of capital, Evensen also said. Teekay LNG Partners reported earnings per share of $0.34 during its most recent quarter ending on November 30. The company has lost 18.32 percent in the last five trading days and dropped 24.34 percent in the last 4 weeks.