An array of pipes and valves may not be as photogenic as a drilling mast flying the U.S. flag against the backdrop of a mountain range or the wide-open plains. Looking at a gas-processing plant doesn't rock like a thunderous frac job. But never mind that: in a hot gas market, infrastructure is cool. Savvy investors keep their eyes on the midstream because without adequate infrastructure, all oil and gas is stranded-something Hurricane Katrina has brought home to even average American consumers. The possibility of rapid growth and high returns attract them to gas-processing and -fractionating plants, gas-gathering and -pipeline systems. Just as the upstream space is now populated by executives starting over with new companies, many people starting or backing new midstream companies are alumni of midstream successes from the 1990s. The sector is ripe for large deals. At press time, midstream master limited partnership (MLP) Kinder Morgan and utility Sempra Energy announced plans to build a $3-billion pipeline linking fast-growing natural gas production in southwest Wyoming to manufacturers in Ohio. In July, a unit of Arcapita, a global investment group, acquired the majority of Falcon Gas Storage Co. and injected additional capital into the Houston firm as it expands its storage facilities in Texas. The total transaction value was about $100 million. In August, MLP Targa Resources Inc. announced an agreement to buy all of Dynegy's midstream assets for $2.35 billion. The publicly held partnership started in 2003 with backing from former Tejas Gas executives and private-equity investor Warburg Pincus. That same month, three "smaller" deals were announced that total more than $1 billion. The buyers were publicly held, fast-growing midstream partnerships: Copano Energy LLC, Crosstex Energy LP and Martin Midstream Partners. Martin Midstream Partners LP, one of the newly public MLPs, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the outstanding general and limited partnership interests in Prism Gas Systems I LP, a gas-gathering and -processing company. Its gathering and processing assets are in East Texas and northwest Louisiana and on the Texas Gulf Coast. The total purchase price is estimated at $100 million. The selling parties include Natural Gas Partners V LP. The transaction is expected to close in this quarter. "In the past few months we have seen partnerships pay multiples well north of 10x EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] for assets in some auction formats," John Freeman, an analyst for Raymond James & Associates, says in a recent report. For more on this, see the October issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-993-9320, ext. 126.