(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. are interested in bidding for a majority stake in Western Midstream Partners LP being sold by Occidental Petroleum Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.
Global Infrastructure Partners and KKR & Co. are also interested, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn't public. Apollo is considering investing in the oil and gas pipeline operator through Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition vehicle it backs, the people said.
A deal could be reached by the end of this year, they said. Nothing has been finalized and Occidental could opt to keep full ownership of the company, they said.
Representatives for Blackstone, Apollo, Global Infrastructure Partners and KKR declined to comment. Representatives for Occidental, Western Midstream and Spartan didn't respond to requests for comment.
Western Midstream fell 1% to $26.54 at 12:09 p.m. in New York trading Thursday, for a market value of $12 billion.
Western Midstream, based in the Woodlands, Texas, has more than 15,200 miles of oil and gas pipelines and about six dozen processing and treatment facilities in the Midwestern U.S. and Texas, according to an investor presentation in May.
Occidental Petroleum acquired a majority stake in the company via its purchase last month of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which had formed the company to house its pipeline operations. The potential divestiture would help Occidental meet its goal of selling $10 billion to $15 billion in assets over the next two years to pay down debt.
--With assistance from Kevin Crowley.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kiel Porter in Chicago at kporter17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks, Simon Casey
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