Williams Cos. NYSE:WMB, one of the largest natural gas pipeline operators in the U.S., has secured a $5.34 billion investment for five power plants it is developing as data centers drive stronger electricity demand. A group led by Blackstone Credit & Insurance, the credit and insurance investment arm of alternative asset manager Blackstone NYSE:BX, will acquire a 49% non-controlling interest in the projects alongside Apollo Global Management NYSE:APO, an alternative investment firm, and accounts managed by KKR & Co. (KKR), a global investment company. Williams will retain a 51% stake while maintaining commercial and operational control, allowing the company to expand its power-generation portfolio while sharing a significant portion of the required capital with outside investors.
The investment includes $4.4 billion to fund 49% of the projects' expected growth capital expenditures, along with approximately $900 million payable to Williams. The five projects, named Socrates, Apollo, Aquila, Socrates the Younger and Neo, are part of Williams' Power Innovation portfolio, which has more than 2.6 gigawatts of announced capacity. Williams has approximately $9.6 billion of data-center power projects under development, including battery storage, natural gas pipeline connections and power plants that can bypass local electricity grids. Chief Executive Officer Chad Zamarin said the portfolio is expanding rapidly and that the company expects to deliver critical energy solutions for American businesses.
The transaction could support Williams' push into power generation, which began accelerating in 2025 as the company sought to benefit from growing electricity demand linked to artificial intelligence. Blackstone has made AI its largest investment theme, directing capital toward infrastructure, utilities, data centers and semiconductor investments. The firm also recently joined Apollo and Broadcom (AVGO), a semiconductor company, to help finance chips for AI developers Anthropic and OpenAI. Investors may view the deal as a way for Williams to fund growth while retaining control of the assets, although the company's shares fell as much as 3% on Monday.