Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:TEP) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain OfficersItem 5.02.
Grant of Awards to Executive Officers Under the Tallgrass MLP GP, LLC Long-Term Incentive Plan
On August 2, 2017, the board of directors of Tallgrass MLP GP, LLC (the “Company”), the general partner of Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP (the “Partnership”), and the board of directors of TEGP Management, LLC, the general partner of Tallgrass Energy GP, LP, the managing member of Tallgrass Equity, LLC, the sole member of the Company, approved the following grants of equity participation units (“Equity Participation Units”) to the following executive officers of the Company:
Grants of Awards to Executive Officers
|
Executive Officer |
NumberofEquityParticipationUnits |
|
Christopher Jones |
90,000 |
|
Gary Watkins |
35,000 |
The Equity Participation Units were granted according to the terms of the Tallgrass MLP GP, LLC Long-Term Incentive Plan and are subject to an Equity Participation Unit Agreement (the “Equity Participation Unit Agreement”).
The Equity Participation Unit Agreement contemplates that all of the Equity Participation Units subject to each individual grant will vest on the earliest date on or after April1, 2021, on which the average compounded annual distribution growth rate for regular quarterly Partnership distributions, based upon the regular quarterly distribution paid by the Partnership on, or immediately prior to, such date is at least 5% over the annualized distribution rate of $3.34 per common unit, as determined by the board of directors of the Company (the “Distribution Hurdle Date”). In order to vest, each recipient of the individual grant must remain continuously employed with the Company or its affiliates through the Distribution Hurdle Date. If the Distribution Hurdle Date has not occurred by the seventh anniversary of the grant date, each individual grant will expire and terminate and no vesting of Equity Participation Units will occur thereafter. In certain circumstances, all unvested Equity Participation Units will be accelerated as specified in more detail in the Equity Participation Unit Agreement.
The Equity Participation Unit Agreement contains non-competition and non-solicitation restrictions, to which the individual will not be permitted to compete with the Company in certain circumstances for a period beginning on the grant and ending 18 months following termination of employment (if vesting occurs). The Equity Participation Unit Agreement also contains a non-disparagement covenant with respect to the Company and its affiliates.
The foregoing description is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Equity Participation Unit Agreement, which will be filed as an exhibit to the Partnership’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September30, 2017.
About Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:TEP)
Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP owns, operates, acquires and develops midstream energy assets in North America. The Company operates through three segments: Crude Oil Transportation & Logistics, which includes the ownership and operation of a crude oil pipeline system; Natural Gas Transportation & Logistics, which includes the ownership and operation of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated interstate natural gas pipelines and integrated natural gas storage facilities, and Processing & Logistics, which includes the ownership and operation of natural gas processing, treating and fractionation facilities, the provision of water business services primarily to the oil and gas exploration and production industry and the transportation of natural gas liquid (NGLs). It operates the Sterling Terminal near Sterling, Colorado. It also operates Buckingham Terminal in northeast Colorado. It has interest in the Deeprock Development Terminal in Cushing, Okla.