(Bloomberg) -- TC Energy Corp.’s plan to sell a stake in its western Canadian gas pipeline system to indigenous communities may not happen as originally designed, the company’s chief executive officer said on an investor call.

The company had planned to sell an interest in its NGTL system to a group of about 72 Indigenous communities in a C$1 billion ($715 million) deal that was supposed to close in the third quarter. But a bond deal to finance the transaction was delayed, and the Indigenous consortium said TC Energy had informed it that the company couldn’t proceed with the transaction or the bond financing.

TC Energy is still talking with the communities, but the transaction may not go through as planned, CEO Francois Poirier said in response to questions during an investor day presentation. 

Indigenous participation “may come in a form that’s different from an outright equity ownership,” he said.

The deal was to be the single largest indigenous equity transaction in Canada’s history, Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith said at the time. Canadian energy companies have been partnering more frequently with Indigenous communities whose land is affected by their projects in a bid to head off potential environmental and legal opposition. 

TC Energy, which had been liquidating assets in recent years to cover cost overruns on a Canadian gas pipeline project, didn’t need to complete the sale as part of its plans for reducing debt, Poirier said on Tuesday.

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