Brookfield may acquire Blackstone’s Cheniere stake

Brookfield Asset Management’s infrastructure arm is in talks to acquire Blackstone Group’s minority stake in liquefied natural gas terminal operator Cheniere Energy Partners, according to people familiar with the matter.

The alternative asset manager is working with a partner to acquire Blackstone’s interest, said units rose as much as 5.7 percent Tuesday. They closed up 3.1 percent to $39.00 in New York, giving the company a market value of about $18.9 billion.

Cheniere Energy Partners, a limited partnership created by Cheniere Energy, owns the first major U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminal.

Blackstone agreed to invest about $1.5 billion in the company in 2012.

The private equity firm owned 41.2 percent of the company as of the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public.

No final decision has been made, and Brookfield Asset Management could opt to not proceed, they said.

Blackstone’s stake is worth about $7.8 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Representatives for Brookfield Asset Management, Blackstone and Cheniere declined to comment.

Cheniere Energy Partners’ June 30 while Cheniere Energy owned 48.6 percent, according to a regulatory filing this month.

Blackstone had been seeking a premium for its stake and had begun marketing it to a small number of infrastructure, pension and sovereign wealth funds, Bloomberg News reported last summer.

Brookfield Asset Management, based in Toronto, is one of world’s largest alternative asset manages multiple billions of dollars across asset classes including real estate, energy and infrastructure.