Standard&Poor's Ratings Services bases its ratings on Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) and its operating subsidiary Enterprise Products Operating LLC on its 'strong' business risk profile and 'significant' financial risk profile. Key credit strengths consist of EPD's operating scale, business line diversity, and high proportion of fee-based revenues. Partially offsetting these strengths are EPD's significant financial leverage and aggressive growth strategy. As a master limited partnership (MLP), EPD distributes virtually all free cash flow (after maintenance capital expenditures) to unit holders each quarter and generally relies on the capital markets to fund growth capital expenditures. In early September 2010, Enterprise GP Holdings L.P. (EPE), EPD's general partner, announced it will merge into EPD. The merger will simplify the
