The Partnership has equity interests in Northern Border, Great Lakes and Iroquois. The pipeline systems owned by these entities are regulated by FERC. The pipeline systems of Northern Border and Great Lakes are operated by subsidiaries of TC Energy. The Iroquois pipeline system is operated by Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Iroquois. The Partnership uses the equity method of accounting for its interests in its equity investees.


	Ownership Interest at		Equity Earnings (b)			Equity Investments
	December 31, 2020		Year ended December 31			December 31
(millions of dollars)			2020	2019	2018	2020	2019
Northern Border(a)	50.00	%	76	69	68	407	422
Great Lakes	46.45	%	56	51	59	509	491
Iroquois	49.34	%	38	40	46	154	185
			170	160	173	1,070	1,098

(a)Equity earnings from Northern Border is net of the 12-year amortization of a $10 million transaction fee paid to the operator of Northern Border at the time of the Partnership’s acquisition of an additional 20 percent in April 2006. The fee was fully amortized in May 2018.

(b)Equity Earnings represents our share in an investee’s earnings and does not include any impairment charge on the equity method investment recorded as a reduction of carrying value of these investments. Accordingly, no impairment charge was recorded by the Partnership on its equity investees for all the periods presented here.

As noted under Note 2 - Significant accounting policies, our equity investments in Northern Border, Great Lakes and Iroquois are evaluated whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. We performed a qualitative analysis to determine if there was a non-temporary decline in our equity investments' fair value and no triggers were identified. As a result, we continue to believe no impairment exists on our equity investments. There is a risk that adverse changes in our analysis could result in additional quantitative steps to evaluate our equity method investments.

Distributions received from equity investments for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $225 million (2019 - $258 million; 2018 - $198 million) of which $29 million (2019 - $58 million and 2018 - $10 million) was considered a return of capital and is included in Investing activities in the Partnership’s consolidated statement of cash flows. The return of capital was related to our investment in Northern Border and Iroquois (see further discussion below).

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Partnership received distributions from Northern Border amounting to $91 million (2019 - $144 million; 2018 – $83 million) The $144 million received in 2019 included the Partnership's 50 percent share of the Northern Border $100 million distribution in June 2019. The $100 million distribution was 100 percent financed by borrowing on Northern Border's $200 million revolving credit facility. The $50 million of cash the Partnership received did not represent a distribution of operating cash flow during the period and, therefore, it was reported as a return of investment in the Partnership's consolidated statement of cash flows.

The Partnership recorded no undistributed earnings from Northern Border for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. At December 31, 2020 the Partnership had a $115 million (December 31, 2019 - $115 million) difference between the carrying value of Northern Border and the underlying equity in the net assets primarily resulting from the recognition and inclusion of goodwill in the Partnership’s investment in Northern Border relating to the Partnership’s April 2006 acquisition of an additional 20 percent general partnership interest in Northern Border.


December 31 (millions of dollars)	2020	2019
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents	31	21
Other current assets	38	37
Property, plant and equipment, net	977	989
Other assets	12	12
	1,058	1,059
Liabilities and Partners’ Equity
Current liabilities	52	42
Deferred credits and other	42	39
Long-term debt, net (a)	380	364
Partners’ equity
Partners’ capital	584	615
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	—	(1)
	1,058	1,059


Year ended December 31 (millions of dollars)	2020	2019	2018

Transmission revenues	308	300	289
Operating expenses	(77)	(82)	(78)
Depreciation	(62)	(62)	(60)
Financial charges and other	(18)	(18)	(15)
Net income	151	138	136

(a)Includes current maturities of $250 million as of December 31, 2020 for Northern Border's 7.50% Senior Notes (December 31, 2019 - none), net of unamortized debt issuance costs and debt discounts. At December 31, 2020, Northern Border was in compliance with all of its financial covenants.

The Partnership is considered to have a variable interest in Great Lakes, which is accounted for as an equity investment as we are not its primary beneficiary. A variable interest entity is a legal entity that either does not have sufficient equity at risk to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support, is structured such that equity investors lack the ability to make significant decisions relating to the entity’s operations through voting rights or do not substantively participate in the gains or losses of the entity.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Partnership received distributions from Great Lakes amounting to $48 million (2019 - $59 million; 2018 - $58 million), all of which were reported as a return on investment in the Partnership's consolidated statement of cash flows.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Partnership made equity contributions to Great Lakes amounting to $10 million representing cash calls from Great Lakes to make scheduled debt payments (2019 - $10 million 2018 - $9 million)

At December 31, 2020, the equity method goodwill related to Great Lakes amounted to $260 million (December 31, 2019 - $260 million). The equity method goodwill relates to the Partnership’s February 2007 acquisition of a 46.45 percent general partner

interest in Great Lakes and is the difference between the carrying value of our investment in Great Lakes and the underlying equity in Great Lakes’ net assets.


December 31 (millions of dollars)	2020	2019
Assets
Current assets	66	72
Property, plant and equipment, net	716	685
	782	757
Liabilities and Partners’ Equity
Current liabilities	38	33
Long-term debt, net (a)	198	219
Other long-term liabilities	9	6
Partners’ equity	537	499
	782	757


Year ended December 31 (millions of dollars)	2020	2019	2018

Transmission revenues	239	238	246
Operating expenses	(70)	(79)	(68)
Depreciation	(33)	(32)	(32)
Financial charges and other	(15)	(16)	(18)
Net income	121	111	128

For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Partnership received distributions from Iroquois amounting to $86 million (2019 - $55 million: 2018 - $56 million) which includes the Partnership’s 49.34 percent share of the Iroquois unrestricted cash distribution as part of its 2017 acquisition agreement with Iroquois amounting to approximately $5 million (2019 - $8 million) .

Also included in the $86 million distribution was the Partnership's receipt of (a) a $24 million one-time, non-recurring distribution from Iroquois, representing our 49.34 percent of the reimbursement proceeds received by Iroquois from a terminated project that was guaranteed by the customer and (b) an additional $4 million distribution representing our 49.34 percent of the excess cash generated by Iroquois' operating activities in 2020.

The 2020 unrestricted cash of $5 million (2019 - $8 million) and the $24 million non-recurring distributions do not represent a distribution of Iroquois’ cash from operations during the period and therefore were reported as a return of investment in the Partnership’s consolidated statement of cash flows.

The Partnership made an equity contribution to Iroquois of $2 million and $4 million in December 2020 and August 2019, respectively. This amount represents the Partnership’s 49.34 percent share of a cash call from Iroquois to cover costs of regulatory approvals related to their capital project.

The Partnership recorded no undistributed earnings for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. At December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Partnership had a $39 million and $40 million difference, respectively, between the carrying value of Iroquois and the underlying equity in the net assets primarily from TC Energy’s carrying value due to the fair value assessment of Iroquois’ assets at the time of its acquisition of interests from third parties (refer to Note 2 - Acquisitions and Goodwill for our accounting policy on acquisitions from TC Energy).

Iroquois declared its third quarter 2019 distribution of $28 million on November 1, 2019, and the Partnership received its 49.34 percent share or $14 million on January 6, 2020.

The summarized financial information provided to us by Iroquois, which is not considered a significant equity investee under Regulation SX-3-09, is as follows:


December 31 (millions of dollars)	2020	2019
ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents	25	43
Other current assets	36	36
Property, plant and equipment, net	506	570
Other assets	20	16
	587	665
LIABILITIES AND PARTNERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities	20	34
Net long-term debt, net (a)	314	317
Other non-current liabilities	21	20
Partners’ equity	232	294
	587	665


Year ended December 31 (millions of dollars)	2020	2019	2018

Transmission revenues	183	180	194
Operating expenses	(59)	(58)	(57)
Depreciation	(30)	(29)	(29)
Financial charges and other	(15)	(11)	(14)
Net income	79	82	94