Liam Denning, Columnist

Energy Transfer's No-Money-Down Offer

Deferring a dividend cut does nobody any favors.
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Necessity, mother of invention, has also spawned acrobatics when it comes to pipeline companies.

With equity markets largely closed off -- and in an effort, successful or not, to stave off cutting dividends -- companies including Kinder Morgan, Targa Resources, and Plains All American have resorted to selling convertible preferred stock, sometimes with extra tweaks such as payment-in-kind options.