HedgeCo.Net — ONEOK said Sunday it had agreed to buy Brazos Midstream’s Permian Midland Basin natural gas gathering and processing assets for $4.425 billion in cash, funded through a $9 billion nonvoting minority equity investment from funds and affiliates managed by Apollo. ONEOK’s investor-relations release is the primary. Apollo’s own press page independently carried the same $4.425 billion asset price and the same $9 billion equity line.
ONEOK intends to use $5 billion of the Apollo proceeds to reduce existing indebtedness, with a path that includes repayments, make-whole calls, and a tender for senior notes. The firm said the debt cut would take expected pro forma 2027 leverage to about 3.25 times debt-to-EBITDA. The Apollo investment carries an IRR capped at 7.0% for the first years of the structure, below ONEOK’s stated cost of publicly traded equity, with excess distributions designed to amortize Apollo’s capital account over time.
The Brazos Midland purchase is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance and customary conditions. Both boards have approved their sides of the package. A Monday morning conference call was scheduled for management to walk through the capital stack.
The allocator object is Apollo’s $9 billion minority equity check, not a plain midstream bolt-on. Marking only the $4.425 billion asset price and ignoring the equity sleeve misses half the print.