有限合伙制企业（MLP）跑步机（注：形容MLP模式是环环相扣的，有循环性）

We arrive at a situation where an incentivefor risky growth is then combined with a reliance on outside funding. Itis this dynamic that leads to the MLP Treadmill.

风险中求增长的动机和对外部资金的依赖结合在了一起，正是这种动力把MLP公司带到了跑步机上。

MLPs constantly need more capital to drivebigger and bigger deals so that they can keep growing distributions. Inturn, bigger distributions will lead to a higher valuation. This is theMLP Treadmill. Once you get on and start feeding growth through externalfunding, it is very hard to stop and get off. And get off you must,eventually.

MLP公司需要源源不断的资金

One of the inherent contradictions of theMLP model is that, if it works exactly as designed, the company will hit the high splits quickly. As the GP grabs a biggerand bigger piece of the pie, the cost of capital will increase commensurately. As one observer put it: “ The Company’s unitprice depended upon constantly increasing dividend distribution, andever-higher dividends, creating ever-greater IDRs, required staggeringinfusions of capital.”

MLP模式固有的矛盾之一是如果按照设计好的剧本走，它很容易到达五五分的那个点。当普通合伙人的份额越来越大，资本成本也会同样增加。一个观察员如是说：“公司的股价取决于不断增加的分红额度，越高的分红能带来越大IDR权利，需要更多的融资。”

For example, below is a look at the 20 yearlifespan of an MLP. We have assumed a 7% yield at the outsetwith an expectation that the yield will grow by 3% per year. Theseassumptions give the MLP an initial cost of capital of 7%. But, by year20, the GP is taking 4q% of distributable cash flow and the MLP must earn 51%on its equity to preserve the distribution growth to LPs. The universeof investments providing that sort of return is rather small.

例如：如下所示是一家MLP企业20年的企业生命周期。我们假设初始收益率是7%，预计收益率每年按3%增长。在这些假设下，MLP企业的初始成本占总资本的7%。但是在第20年时，普通合伙人拿走可分配现金流的4%，MLP企业必须挣得股权的51%以保证有限合伙人分红的增长。而能够提供如此高回报的投资是十分少的。

Kinder Morgan serves as a cautionary tale. Kinder Morgan rode the MLP Treadmill all the way to its logicalconclusion. From 1990 to December 1996, Richard Kinder served as thePresident and COO of Enron Corporation. He resigned from Enron in 1996 afterbeing denied a promotion to CEO. He had a headstrong belief in theprofitability of collecting a toll to move energy through pipelines” which didnot gibe with the more aggressive vision at Enron. After leaving Enron,he and college friend William V. Morgan started a pipeline business. They firstpurchased Enron Liquids Pipeline, a natural gas conduit business that Enron waseager to get rid of, for $40 million. They also merged with KNEnergy. After a number of acquisitions, most prominently El PasoCorporation, Kinder Morgan became the largest midstream energycompany in North America. Enron declared bankruptcy in 2002.

金德摩根公司就是个警示传奇。金德摩根在MLP跑步机上一直跑跑跑，最后的结局也在意料之中。从1990年到1996年12月，理查德·金德担任安然公司（世界上最大的综合性天然气和电力公司之一）的首席运营官。1996年晋升CEO失败后，他从安然公司辞职。他坚定地认为对管道运输石油收取费用是有利可图的。离开安然之后，他跟朋友威廉 V·摩根开始了管道运输的生意。他们首先用4000万美金买下安然石油运输公司，这是安然公司十分想摆脱的负责天然气管道业务的子公司。他们还跟KN能源公司合并起来。金德摩根通过一系列的合并，尤其是跟埃尔帕索公司的合并，变成了北美最大的中游能源公司。安然在2002年宣告破产。

By 2014, the Kinder Morgan empire hadgreatly expanded.

2014年时，金德摩根帝国已经大面积扩张了。

Enron Liquids Pipeline evolved into KinderMorgan Partners (KMP), a master limited partnership. KMP earned themajority of its income by transporting oil, natural gas and COthrough its approximately 52,000 miles of pipelines located throughout theUnited States and Canada. It also owns approximately 180 terminals dedicated tohandling natural resources. The Company owns the physical pipelines, andcollects lucrative fees when natural resource companies use those pipelines totransport their products. KMP had increased its dividend every quartersince its inception.

安然石油管道公司变成了金德摩根的合伙人（KMP）——业主有限责任合伙企业。KMP大部分盈利都来自于遍布全美、加拿大的近52000英里的管道对石油、天然气和二氧化碳进行运输。同时，它还拥有180个终点站以处理自然资源。公司拥有实体的管道，当能源公司利用其管道运输产品时，公司就能收取丰厚的利润。KMP从一开始就实现了每季度的分红增长。