ONEOK, Inc. agreed to acquire Brazos Midstream’s Midland Basin gathering and processing assets for $4.425 billion in cash, paired with a separate $9 billion nonvoting minority equity investment from funds and affiliates managed by Apollo Global Management. About $5 billion of the Apollo proceeds will retire existing debt, with the remainder funding the purchase and no common equity issued, targeting pro forma 2027 leverage of roughly 3.25 times debt-to-EBITDA. Apollo’s Class B interest in a newly formed holding company sits structurally behind ONEOK’s senior creditors, with returns capped at a 7% internal rate of return for the first nine years and excess distributions amortizing Apollo’s capital over time. The hybrid structure is part of Apollo’s push to supply capital that can eventually be repackaged as investment-grade assets for insurance and retirement clients, including pools managed through its Athene subsidiary. The Brazos platform covers about 600,000 dedicated acres under long-term fixed-fee contracts and is expected to more than double ONEOK’s Midland Basin processing capacity to approximately 2.3 Bcf/d, including plants under construction. ONEOK’s board unanimously approved both transactions, with the Apollo investment scheduled to close in September 2026 and the Brazos acquisition expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.