Blackstone Buys Into Bakken Oil Operations for $1.6 Billion (1)

Targa Resources Corp. agreed to sell a 45 percent stake in its oil and natural gas pipeline and storage operations in the North Dakota shale region for $1.6 billion in cash to investment firms backed by private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP.

The deal will provide Targa with a “substantial portion of our estimated 2019 equity funding needs,” Chief Executive Officer Joe Bob Perkins said in a statement Feb. 19. Targa will use the proceeds to pay down debt, fund its growth capital program and other general corporate purposes. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019. ...