Bloomberg: Williams Among Bidders For QEP Resources' Pipeline Unit

(RTTNews) - Pipeline operator Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) is one of the bidders for QEP Resources Inc.'s (QEP) natural gas pipeline unit, Entrada Midstream Inc., Bloomberg reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. A sale of the unit could reportedly be worth about $2.5 billion.

QEP Resources said in June that its wholly owned subsidiary, QEP Field Services Company or QEPFS, filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the spin off of its midstream field services business into a separate, publicly traded company.

According to the Bloomberg report, QEP Resources is working with Deutsche Bank AG to find buyers for the unit, which has also attracted interest from Questar Corp (STR), QEP's former parent.

QEP Resources, which is also in talks with other bidders, could select a buyer for Entrada within weeks, Bloomberg reported.

QEP Resources said in June that its board of directors approved the spin of Entrada Midstream Inc., formerly known as QEPFS. In addition to owning natural gas gathering and processing assets, Entrada owns the general partner of QEP Midstream Partners, LP (QEPM) and an about 55.8 percent limited partner interest in QEPM.

For the three months ended March 31, 2014, Entrada's gathering systems had 2,222 miles of pipeline, an average gross throughput of 1.8 million MMBtu/d of natural gas, and about 15,267 Bbl/d of crude oil.

WMB closed Friday's trading at $52.10, up $1.05 or 2.06 percent on a volume of 12.87 million shares.

QEP closed Friday's trading at $23.18, down $0.15 or 0.64 percent on a volume of 5.9 million shares. However, in after-hours, the stock gained $0.42 or 1.81 percent to $23.60.