Growth

Not every shareholder is going to agree with what I am about to write, but I genuinely believe that instead of returning $2B of capital to shareholders, WES should:

1) keep the dividend payout ratio as is
2) raise more debt
2) keep the $2B of excess cash without franking credits
3) seek more growth potential aiming for ROIC of >11% (maybe even 8%)

It's only a matter of time before WES becomes the Berkshire Hathaway of Australia.

$2B of excess cash + retained earnings + moderate debt raisings = $4-7 Billion.

They could accumulate 10-19.99% stakes in almost any publicly traded company in Australia.

It's either they do this, they return capital to us and we diversify or reinvest, or WES diversifies internationally (which can be error prone).