This article is directed at two kinds of investors. In one corner, we have the former Kinder Morgan Energy Partners unit holders, who are extremely upset at the Kinder Morgan roll up and their very large tax bills. In the opposite corner are investors who would like the yields and dividend growth rates of the best MLPs, but would be happier without the extra partnership tax reporting work. Now the big news, another company has followed Kinder Morgan with an MLP roll up announcement, and this news can be very good for your portfolio.

A year ago, Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE:KMI) operated energy midstream assets and was the general partner of two publicly traded midstream MLPs, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE:KMP) and El Paso Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE:EPB). The combined assets represented one of the largest energy infrastructure conglomerates in the country. Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had a similar set up, with significant assets at the corporate level and the general partner control of Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) and Access Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:ACMP). These energy infrastructure groups had historically used the MLP tax advantages to fund the construction of growing portfolios of energy pipeline, storage, and processing assets.

In August of last year, Kinder Morgan announced it would merge or “roll up” the two MLPs it controlled into Kinder Morgan, Inc. The growth capital funding costs of the two MLPs had become too high to generate sustainable cash flow growth. Also, the GP – MLP relationship required that large amounts of free cash flow generated by the MLPs be paid to Kinder Morgan Inc. as incentive distribution rights. Finally, KMI would realize a very large corporate income tax depreciation shield from the rolled up MLP assets. Kinder Morgan completed the merger in November 2014 and now operates solely as a corporation.

Now in May 2015, Williams Companies has announced it will roll up Williams Partners, which was completely merged with Access Midstream Partners near the end of 2014. With this merger and last year’s Kinder Morgan roll up, four of the largest MLPs at the start of 2014 no longer exist.