The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that TC Energy is splitting into two separate companies, spinning off its liquids pipelines business from its natural gas and low-carbon energy operations. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that TC announced its plan after market close Thursday. Only days earlier, it said it would sell 40 per cent of its two massive Columbia gas-transmission systems in the United States to New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners for $5.2-billion to improve its balance sheet. The Columbia deal was the first in a program that TC Energy announced last fall to sell off its non-core assets and minority interests to help finance 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. TC said the decision to split its operations into two entities comes as a result of a two-year review. Spinning off TC's liquids pipelines business will provide both companies "with the flexibility to pursue their own growth objectives," TC said in a news release. The review concluded that no major changes in management was required.