Santa Fe and Kinder Settle Suits

Santa Fe Pacific Pipeline Partners L.P. said the company and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. have agreed to settle two shareholder lawsuits that had been filed late last year to block Kinder Morgan’s $1.5-billion acquisition of Santa Fe.

One of the suits is pending in Orange County Superior Court, the other in state court in Delaware.

Terms of the proposed settlement were not disclosed, but it would not change the financial terms of the proposed acquisition. Shareholders of the two companies are scheduled to meet March 6 to vote on the deal.

Orange-based Santa Fe owns and operates the largest independent petroleum products pipeline in the West.