Kinder Morgan companies have set the date of Nov. 20 to vote on its $44-billion merger proposal.

In August, Kinder Morgan announced its plans to combine Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP), Kinder Morgan Management LLC (NYSE: KMR) and El Paso Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: EPB) into Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI).

Combined, the company would own enough miles of pipeline to crisscross the U.S. about 25 times.

The companies announced Oct. 22 that the registration statement on Form S-4 has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and that each company has filed a proxy statement or proxy statement/prospectus, as applicable, with the SEC.

Each company has commenced mailing of its proxy materials to its shareholders or unitholders on Oct. 22. Unitholders and shareholders of record at the close of business on Oct. 20, will be entitled to vote at the applicable special meeting.

Chairman and CEO Richard D. Kinder said in a statement, “We are delighted that the special meeting date of Nov. 20 has been set for shareholders and unitholders of the Kinder Morgan companies to vote on this transaction, which we anticipate will close by Thanksgiving."

KMI projects a dividend of $2 per share for 2015, a 16% increase over the budgeted 2014 KMI dividend target of $1.72 per share, and the company expects to grow the dividend by about 10% each year from 2015 through 2020 while producing excess coverage of over $2 billion, Kinder said.

"We believe merging the companies benefits our shareholders and unitholders, simplifies the Kinder Morgan story by transitioning to one security and paves the way for superior growth at KMI for years to come," he said.