OREANDA-NEWS.  Williams (NYSE: WMB) announced today that it intends to commence an underwritten public offering of USD 3,000,000,000 of shares of its common stock. The shares will be offered by Williams pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Williams intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to finance a portion of its acquisition of the 50 percent general partner interest and 55.1 million limited partner units in Access Midstream Partners, L.P. held by certain Global Infrastructure Partners funds that was previously announced on Sunday, June 15, 2014.

The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional USD 450,000,000 of shares of common stock.

Citigroup, Barclays, and UBS Investment Bank are acting as joint book-running managers.