The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that TC Energy will sell 40 per cent of its two massive Columbia gas transmission systems in the United States to New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for $5.2-billion, in a deal to help shore up TC's balance sheet. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that the deal is the first in a $5-billion-plus divestiture program that TC announced last fall. Under the plan, the company aims to sell off its non-core assets and minority interests to help finance its expansion goals without accruing large amounts of debt. That includes the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia, which has an expected cost that has surged more than 130 per cent since the original 2018 estimate of $6.2-billion. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said the deal with GIP announced Monday would take a "sizeable chunk" out of TC's asset monetization program. The valuation of the deal was slightly below expected, and TC will probably announce more sales in the coming months. BMO analyst Ben Pham called the headline valuation "underwhelming," but it "shores up the balance sheet." The new deal's price tag will likely be raised by analysts on Friday during TC's second-quarter conference call.