(By Balachander) Western Gas Equity Partners LP said it has launched an initial public offering of 15 million common units and estimates pricing to be between $19.00 and $21.00 per common unit.
The limited partnership announced the commencement of IPO to sell common units in a regulatory filing, which did not disclose the pricing terms.
Texas-based Western Gas Equity had said it expects to receive net proceeds of roughly $282.5 million from the sale of common units.
The limited partnership expects to use the net proceeds to purchase roughly 5.77 million common units from Western Gas Partners LP (NYSE: WES) representing limited partner interests in WES for about $276.8 million.
Western Gas Partners is a growth-oriented Delaware master limited partnership formed by Anadarko (NYSE: APC) to own, operate, acquire and develop midstream energy assets.
Western Gas Equity also expects to make a capital contribution to WES on behalf of WES GP of around $5.7 million in exchange for 117,708 WES general partner units to maintain WES GP's 2.0 percent general partner interest in WES.
Net income attributable to Western Gas Equity was $35.45 million on revenue of $636.6 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30.
The company proposes to list its common units on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "WGP".
Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.