Morgan Stanley to sell stake in pipeline firm TransMontaigne

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley MS.N is selling its stake in oil pipeline company TransMontaigne Inc TMG.UL to NGL Energy Partners LP NGL.N for $200 million as the bank slims down its commodities business.

Morgan Stanley said on Monday the sale includes its general partner and limited partner interests in TransMontaigne Partners LP TLP.N. (Full Story)

Morgan Stanley had launched a formal effort in December to sell its controlling stake in TransMontaigne, while it sold the majority of its global physical oil trading operations to Russian state-run oil major Rosneft ROSN.MM.

The bank has been trying to sell or spin off its physical commodity business for over a year as it faces increased regulatory pressure and higher capital requirements.

The TransMontaigne MLP includes some 48 fuel terminals with nearly 24 million barrels of storage capacity on the Gulf Coast, in Florida, the Midwest and across the Southeast, including along the strategically important Colonial Pipeline that ships gasoline and diesel from the Gulf to the East Coast.

The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, is not material to the firm`s overall results, Morgan Stanley said.

(Reporting by Neha Dimri in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)