A major U.S. pipeline company, Williams Cos Inc, is in advanced talks to purchase a stake in natural gas and oil gathering services provider Access Midstream Partners LP for about $3 billion, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. Williams would buy the stake from private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners, which owns about a third of Access Midstream as well as half of its general partner called Access Midstream Partners GP LLC, the Bloomberg's report said. (r.reuters.com/hyc22w)Both Williams Cos and Global Insfrastructure Partners were not immediately for a comment. Access was also unavailable for comment.Williams bought a 50 percent stake in the general partner Access GP and a 25 percent stake in Access toward the end of December 2012. (r.reuters.com/gyc22w)The deal would provide Williams, the fourth largest U.S. pipeline company as per market capitalization, with full control of the general partner Access Midstream Partners GP, according to the report.
Access Midstream Partners, L.P., formerly Chesapeake Midstream Partners, L. Shares of ACMP traded higher by 2.3% or $1.47/share to $65.36. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $44.39 and as high as $65.57. On average, 360532 shares of ACMP exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 401518.
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