PARTNERS' CAPITAL AND DISTRIBUTIONS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

10. PARTNERS' CAPITAL AND DISTRIBUTIONS

In March 2016, we entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Equity Distribution Agreement”) with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BB&T Capital Markets, a division of BB&T Securities, LLC, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Jefferies LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, and SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc. Under the terms of the Equity Distribution Agreement, we may offer and sell up to $500.0 million in aggregate gross sales proceeds of LP Units from time to time through such firms, acting as agents of the Partnership or as principals, subject in each case to the terms and conditions set forth in the Equity Distribution Agreement. This agreement replaced our prior four separate equity distribution agreements with each of Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Barclays Capital Inc., SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. and UBS Securities LLC, which we entered into in May 2013 and, under the terms of which, we could sell up to $300.0 million in aggregate gross sales proceeds of LP Units from time to time through such firms.

During the three months ended March 31, 2016, we sold approximately 0.6 million LP Units under the Equity Distribution Agreement, received $37.6 million in net proceeds after deducting commissions and other related expenses, and paid $0.4 million of compensation in aggregate to the agents under the Equity Distribution Agreement.

Summary of Changes in Outstanding Units

The following is a summary of changes in Buckeye's outstanding units for the periods indicated (in thousands):



	Limited Partners
Units outstanding at January 1, 2016	129,524
LP Units issued pursuant to the Option Plan (1)	4
LP Units issued pursuant to the LTIP (1)	203
Issuance of units through Equity Distribution Agreements	566
Units outstanding at March 31, 2016	130,297

(1) The number of units issued represents issuance net of tax withholding.

Distributions

We generally make quarterly cash distributions to unitholders of substantially all of our available cash, generally defined in our partnership agreement as consolidated cash receipts less consolidated cash expenditures and such retentions for working capital, anticipated cash expenditures and contingencies as our general partner deems appropriate. Actual cash distributions on our LP Units totaled $154.9 million ($1.1875 per LP Unit) and $145.4 million ($1.1375 per LP Unit) during the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

On May 6, 2016, we announced a quarterly distribution of $1.200 per LP Unit that will be paid on May 23, 2016 to unitholders of record on May 16, 2016. Based on the LP Units outstanding as of March 31, 2016, estimated cash distributed to unitholders on May 23, 2016 will total $157.2 million.