Anadarko to Resume Talks With Occidental on Buyout Bid -- Update
29 Abril 2019 - 9:33AM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Bradley Olson and Kimberly Chin
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it was considering Occidental
Petroleum Corp.'s $38 billion offer, weeks after agreeing to be
taken over by Chevron Corp. for about $33 billion, raising the
likelihood of a bidding war for assets in the heart of the U.S.
fracking boom.
The declaration puts the onus on Chevron to raise its price or
walk away from its deal for Anadarko, whose acreage in the Permian
Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is coveted by both Chevron and
Occidental as a path to further expansion.
Chevron's deal with Anadarko includes a $1 billion breakup fee,
a factor that may not make it necessary for Chevron to completely
match the Occidental offer. While Chevron can afford to raise its
price significantly, some analysts have urged the company to
proceed with caution given the existence of other potential
targets.
The Anadarko board met Sunday and unanimously voted to reopen
discussions with Occidental. Occidental Chief Executive Vicki
Hollub said in an interview last week that the company had been in
discussions with Anadarko for almost two years and made several
offers in the weeks before the Chevron transaction announcement on
April 12 that were ignored by Anadarko executives.
Shareholders in recent days had pressured Anadarko to openly
consider both suitors and criticized the board's decision to
increase executive payouts on April 11 by millions of dollars.
The vote was "an inexcusable breach of corporate governance,"
said Matthew Halbower, chief executive of hedge fund Pentwater
Capital Management, in a letter Thursday. Pentwater owns about 7
million Anadarko shares.
Anadarko said its merger agreement with Chevron remains intact
and the board currently "reaffirms its existing recommendation of
the transaction." However, the agreement allows the board to resume
negotiations with Occidental to seek a superior proposal.
A Chevron spokesman said in a statement that the company
believes its agreement with Anadarko provides the best value and
most certainty to Anadarko shareholders.
An Occidental spokeswoman said the company hopes Anadarko will
move quickly to secure its "superior" transaction.
Shares of Occidental fell 1.5% in morning trading while shares
of Anadarko declined 0.1%. Chevron's shares were unchanged.
Last week, Occidental offered Anadarko a cash-and-stock deal of
$76 a share -- or about $11 a share more than the value of the
Chevron transaction on the day it was announced, April 12.
Occidental's offer would mean $38 in cash and 0.6094 of a share of
Occidental stock per each of Anadarko's stock.
Anadarko had entered an agreement with Chevron to be acquired in
a cash-and-stock deal where shareholders would receive $16.25 in
cash and 0.3869 of a share of Chevron stock per each of Anadarko
common shares.
Write to Bradley Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com and Kimberly
Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2019 10:18 ET (14:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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