Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP-UN.TO, BIPC.TO) and its institutional partners late on Thursday agreed to acquire the midstream asset portfolio Colonial Enterprises, which includes the Colonial Pipeline, for an enterprise value of about $9 billion.

Colonial is composed of the largest refined products system in the U.S., spanning about 5,500 miles between Texas and New York and serving a customer base along the U.S. East Coast.

At closing, BIP's equity investment is expected to be $500 million, or about 15% of the total equity investment, funded by proceeds from capital recycling initiatives.

The deal is scheduled to close in the second half of the year, subject to customary closing conditions.

Brookfield maintained its Outperform rating and US$40 price target at RBC Capital Markets following the news.

"We believe the acquisition offers BIP the opportunity to not only acquire a critical energy infrastructure in the U.S. at a relatively attractive price, but also add value by investing in various expansion initiatives to increase capacity that will allow more throughput and reduce operational stress on the system, as well as in technology and systems for safer and more efficient operations moving forward," RBC said.

RBC expects the news to have a "neutral to slightly positive impact" on Brookfield's unit price.

Brookfield's share price closed 2.2% lower on Thursday to US$29.64 on the NYSE.