M&A

Energy Services | FMC Technologies | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Technip, FMC Believe Merger is in the Bag, Release Board Mbr List
November 30, 2016December 6, 2016

In May, U.S.-based oilfield services company FMC Technologies announced they will merge with their much larger quasi-competitor, France-based Technip, in an all-stock deal that will create a new company called TechnipFMC worth $13 billion (see FMC Technologies & Technip to Merge, Create $13B Oilfield Giant). FMC had/has some operations in the Marcellus/Utica, hence the merger has implications for our region. The Obama Dept. of Justice approved the deal in June (see FMC Technologies/Technip Merger Approved by Obama DOJ/FTC). Apparently it’s A.O.K. for a French company to buy an American company, but when one American company (Halliburton) wanted to buy another (Baker Hughes), that wasn’t OK with the Obamadroids (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). But we digress. The European Union, like the Obama DOJ, has now given its blessing on the deal. The shareholders for the two companies will vote next week on the merger, to make it official. Apparently management for the two companies thinks the deal is already in the bag because they’ve released a list of board members for the newly combined company…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Marathon Petroleum | MarkWest Energy

Corp Raider Pressures Marathon to Split Itself into 3 Companies
November 22, 2016November 22, 2016

Not even a year go–in December of last year–one of the biggest and brightest stars in the midstream firmament for the Marcellus/Utica, MarkWest Energy, sold itself to Marathon Petroleum (see MarkWest Energy Investors/Unitholders Approve Merger with Marathon). We wondered at the wisdom of such a move, but who are we? What’s done is done. Ironically, an “activist investor” hedge fund (i.e. corporate raider) by the name of Elliott Management yesterday disclosed to the world that they have taken a 4% stake in Marathon. Corporate raiders target companies they can bully by buying enough shares to force those companies to fire people and sell assets. It “unlocks value for shareholders” you see–meaning it will boost the per share price of the raider’s stock so they can turn around and sell that stock and line their already-fat pockets. Disgusting. True to form, Elliott is targeting Marathon. They sent a letter to the Marathon board with the “suggestion” that the company split itself (after buying MarkWest less than a year ago) into three separate companies (retail, refining, midstream) in an effort to “unlock $14 – $19 billion for shareholders.” Unfortunately there are at least two other raiders lurking in the background with small stakes in Marathon who may join Elliott to pressure Marathon…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Sunoco Logistics

ETE Merging Sunoco Logistics and Energy Transfer Partners
November 22, 2016November 22, 2016

Click for larger version

Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) is a big and (on paper) complex company with a number of subsidiaries. Roughly speaking, ETE is the mother ship/parent, and under it are two subsidiaries–Regency Energy Partners and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP)–the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline. Under Energy Transfer Partners are other divisions and subsidiaries–notably Sunoco Logistics Partners, which is the builder of the Mariner pipeline projects. (Click on the org chart to view how the company is arranged.) Yesterday ETE announced that Sunoco LP is swallowing up ETP in a ~$20 billion, stock-swap deal. The confusing part is that although Sunoco LP is buying ETP, the new company will be called ETP and will be run by ETP’s current management…
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Energy Services | FMC Technologies | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Technip & FMC Technologies Shareholders Vote Dec 5 on Merger
November 10, 2016November 10, 2016

In May, U.S.-based oilfield services company FMC Technologies announced they will merge with their much larger quasi-competitor, France-based Technip, in an all-stock deal that will create a new company called TechnipFMC worth $13 billion (see FMC Technologies & Technip to Merge, Create $13B Oilfield Giant). FMC had/has some operations in the Marcellus/Utica, hence the merger has implications for our region. The Obama Dept. of Justice approved the deal in June (see FMC Technologies/Technip Merger Approved by Obama DOJ/FTC). Apparently it’s A.O.K. for a French company to buy an American company, but when one American company (Halliburton) wanted to buy another (Baker Hughes), that wasn’t OK with the Obamadroids (see (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). But we digress. On Dec. 5 shareholders in both companies will vote on the deal. If they vote “yes,” as it expected, the deal with close and the two will have their nuptials in early 2017…
Read More “Technip & FMC Technologies Shareholders Vote Dec 5 on Merger”
Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | TC Energy/TransCanada

TransCanada Raising Big $ to Complete Buyout of Columbia Pipeline
November 3, 2016November 3, 2016

TransCanada wants all of Columbia Pipeline–and they want it real bad. Canadian-based TransCanada, famously known for wanting to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast, didn’t want to be left out of the most important midstream story of the century, so they bought Columbia Pipeline Group–closing on the sale in July (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). At least, that’s what everyone thought. Little known fact: third party investors still own a piece of Columbia. In September TransCanada made an offer to those third party investors to buy them out–so TransCanada can own 100% of the Columbia (see TransCanada Makes Play to Buy “the Rest” of Columbia Pipeline). The original deal cost TransCanada $10 billion (U.S. dollars). The offer made to the investors to buy out the rest was for $848 million U.S. The offer to buy out the third party investors has gone up–to $915 million. In order to pay for everything, both the original purchase and buying out the rest of Columbia, TransCanada announced on Tuesday the company would float another $3.2 billion (Canadian) in new stock and sell off their electric power assets in New England (mostly hydropower) for $3.7 billion (U.S.). TransCanada also announced they now intend to keep full ownership of their Mexico pipelines…
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Industrywide Issues | M&A | Marion County | West Virginia

Stalking Horse – Blue Wolf Hunts Extreme Plastics in Bankruptcy
November 3, 2016November 3, 2016

Blue Wolf Capital Partners is on the hunt to find bargains and believes they’ve found one with Extreme Plastics Plus (EPP). Headquartered in West Virginia, EPP provides oilfield environmental containment services in the Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale, Eagle Ford, Permian Basin and other Mid-Continent sites. EPP specializes in environmental lining, above ground storage tanks, composite rig mats, secondary steel wall containment systems and rig vac systems. EPP has a problem–they are in bankruptcy. Blue Wolf has been selected as the “stalking horse” bidder to buy the company and put it back on its feet…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | GE Oil & Gas | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G
October 31, 2016October 31, 2016

As this post is being written and published, the world’s third largest oilfield services company, Baker Hughes, is holding an investor webcast to announce it has struck a deal to combine/merge with/sell itself to GE’s oil and gas business. The deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, will result in a new company that will be 65.5% owned by GE and 37.5% owned by Baker Hughes shareholders. The deal, IF it gets approved by the Dept. of Justice, will create a company with $32 billion in revenues. Make no mistake, aside from all of the “partnership” talk, this is GE buying out Baker Hughes. The CEO of the new company will be Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive of GE Oil & Gas. The board of directors for the new company will have 5 members appointed by GE and 4 members appointed by Baker Hughes. The deal, if it happens, would catapult the new Baker Hughes (or whatever it will be called) past Halliburton to become the world’s second largest oilfield services company. Get this: The deal may even catapult the new company to become the world’s number one oilfield services company–eclipsing Schlumberger! The question now is, will the Dept. of Justice approve the deal? Earlier this year the Obama DOJ killed the proposed Baker Hughes merger with Halliburton (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). We suppose it depends on who wins the White House next week. Look for Hillary to approve the deal. She’s in bed (figuratively) with GE chief executive Jeff Immelt. As Secretary of State, Clinton lobbied Alergia for a GE power plant contract. After Alegeria gave GE the $1.9 BILLION contract, Jeff Immelt gave a $1 million “donation” to the Clinton Foundation (see GE’s Jeffrey Immelt roped into Clinton cash scandal). That’s how it works in the corrupt world of Clinton Inc. We’re not sure what Trump would do about the proposed deal. Here’s the lowdown on GE’s proposed buyout of Baker Hughes…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Marion County | Marshall County | Pennsylvania | Trans Energy | Washington County | West Virginia | Westmoreland County | Wetzel County

EQT Buys Trans Energy + 60K Marc/Utica Acres in 2 Deals for $683M
October 26, 2016October 26, 2016

Yesterday EQT announced a pair of deals that will net the company another 60,000 Marcellus/Utica acres including 44 Marcellus wells producing a collective 44 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) of natural gas. Most of the acreage (42,600) is in three West Virginia counties, with another 17,000 acres in three Pennsylvania counties. EQT is paying a total of $683 million for the two deals. In the first deal, EQT is buying Trans Energy, Inc., which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of EQT. EQT is also buying Trans Energy joint venture partner Republic Energy’s share in their Marcellus jv. The land is located in Marion, Wetzel and Marshall counties (WV). In the second deal, EQT is buying 17,000 acres from an unidentified third party in southwestern PA, in Washington, Westmoreland and Greene counties. EQT describes the purchases as adding acreage to their “core development area.” You may recall that EQT closed a deal in July, just three months ago, to purchase 62,500 acres from Statoil in WV for $407 million (see Statoil Completes Sale of WV Marcellus Assets to EQT). So why is EQT once again spending money? Analysts speculate it’s because of EQT competitor Rice Energy’s recent deal to buy Vantage Energy with its 85,000 acres in Greene County (see Vantage Energy is No More – Rice Energy Completes $2.7B Buyout). Here’s the particulars about EQT’s latest acquisitions…
Read More “EQT Buys Trans Energy + 60K Marc/Utica Acres in 2 Deals for $683M”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Rice Energy | Vantage Energy

Vantage Energy is No More – Rice Energy Completes $2.7B Buyout
October 20, 2016October 20, 2016

Just two months ago Rice Energy announced they are buying competitor Vantage Energy for $2.7 billion (see Rice Energy Buys Vantage Energy for $2.7B, 85K Marcellus Acres). Included in the deal are 85,000 acres of Marcellus leases in Greene County, PA, the primary reason for the deal (see Why Did Rice Energy Pay $2.7B for Vantage Energy? It’s Simple…). Also included, another 52,000 acres of Utica Shale leases. Yesterday Rice announced that the deal is done and dusted–Vantage Energy is no more. Rice now controls some 231,000 net acres in the Marcellus and Ohio Utica Shale “core” areas, with an inventory of 1,164 drilling locations. Very impressive for a company that didn’t exist 10 years ago…
Read More “Vantage Energy is No More – Rice Energy Completes $2.7B Buyout”
Industrywide Issues | M&A | Ohio | Statewide OH

Gas Natural Sells Itself to First Reserve Energy Infrastructure
October 11, 2016October 11, 2016

Gas Natural Inc., a local distribution company (LDC), or “gas utility” company has operations in four different states, including Ohio. Gas Natural also owns pipelines and processing facilities. Gas Natural has just sold itself to energy investment firm First Reserve for $139 million…
Read More “Gas Natural Sells Itself to First Reserve Energy Infrastructure”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Rice Energy | Vantage Energy

Rice Energy’s Purchase of Vantage a Way to Quickly “Scale Up”
October 6, 2016October 6, 2016

More analysis continues to roll in on Rice Energy’s plan to buy Vantage Energy for $2.7 billion (see Rice Energy Buys Vantage Energy for $2.7B, 85K Marcellus Acres). We ran a post following the initial announcement pointing out there is one main reason why Rice is buying Vantage: 85,000 Marcellus Shale acres in Greene County, PA (see Why Did Rice Energy Pay $2.7B for Vantage Energy? It’s Simple…). We have part of another article tackling the buyout–this time from top energy analyst and Seeking Alpha writer Richard Zeits. He points out a few interesting facts, like the fact that if you do the math, Rice is essentially paying Vantage $20,000 per acre! But Zeits you have to put the price in context: Rice is using a stock swap as their currency for purchasing the acreage. In other words, this is a clever way for Rice to “scale up” quickly without breaking the bank…
Read More “Rice Energy’s Purchase of Vantage a Way to Quickly “Scale Up””
Dominion Energy | Duke Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pipelines

Duke Energy/Piedmont Merger Closes, Dominion Keeps Control of ACP
October 5, 2016October 5, 2016

In October of last year, MDN shared the news that Duke Energy, the largest electric power holding company in the United States and a utility with 7.3 million customers in the southeast and Midwest, announced they are buying Piedmont Natural Gas (see Duke Energy Buys Piedmont NatGas for $6.7B, Marcellus Connection). Piedmont is a midstream and natgas LDC (local distribution company, or utility) with operations primarily in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. It is a story of a big southern electric utility buying a smaller southern natural gas utility. But there’s more to the story. Part of the purchase includes ownership in two very important Marcellus pipeline projects: the Constitution Pipeline and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). With respect to ACP, Duke was already one of the project owner/investors. Together with Piedmont’s share of ACP, Duke’s combined new ownership share (47%) threatened to be larger than the builder/sponsor of the project, Dominion (45%). The Duke/Piedmont merger happened on Monday. At the same time, Dominion exercised a clause in the partnership allowing them to purchase another 3% share, making Dominion’s new ownership stake 48%–still the top dog…
Read More “Duke Energy/Piedmont Merger Closes, Dominion Keeps Control of ACP”
Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy | Vantage Energy

Why Did Rice Energy Pay $2.7B for Vantage Energy? It’s Simple…
September 28, 2016September 27, 2016

Yesterday MDN reported the big story that Rice Energy is paying $2.7 billion to buy the assets of Vantage Energy (see Rice Energy Buys Vantage Energy for $2.7B, 85K Marcellus Acres). Why did Rice go for the deal? It’s really quite simple. According to Rice Energy, it’s because of the 85,000 acres of Marcellus leases in Greene County, PA. That acreage is located next to Rice’s acreage in the county. The opportunity to essentially double their acreage, in their own back yard, was too good to pass up…
Read More “Why Did Rice Energy Pay $2.7B for Vantage Energy? It’s Simple…”
Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | TC Energy/TransCanada

TransCanada Makes Play to Buy “the Rest” of Columbia Pipeline
September 28, 2016September 27, 2016

Last July Canadian-based TransCanada, famously known for wanting to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast (a plan that Obama obliterated), didn’t want to be left out of the most important midstream story of the century, so they bought Columbia Pipeline Group this year, closing on the sale in July (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). At least, that’s what everyone thought. Little known fact: third party investors still own a piece of Columbia. TransCanada has just made an offer to those third party investors to buy them out–so TransCanada can own 100% of the Columbia. The original deal cost TransCanada $10 billion (U.S. dollars). The offer just made to the investors to buy out the rest is for $848 million U.S….
Read More “TransCanada Makes Play to Buy “the Rest” of Columbia Pipeline”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Rice Energy | Vantage Energy

Rice Energy Buys Vantage Energy for $2.7B, 85K Marcellus Acres
September 27, 2016September 27, 2016

Last week MDN reported that Vantage Energy, a Colorado company with major operations in the Marcellus, was once again attempting to float an initial public offering of stock (see Vantage Energy Tries New IPO After Striking Out 2 Yrs Ago). Must be that was a clever fake-out move because yesterday Rice Energy announced they are buying Vantage in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Included in the deal are 85,000 acres of Marcellus leases in Greene County, PA. Also included, another 52,000 acres of Utica Shale leases. Oh! And 37,000 acres of leases in the Texas Barnett Shale–meaning Rice is about to lose its laser focus on the Marcellus/Utica and will no longer be a “pure play” company. The deal instantly elevates Rice’s production predictions for 2017 by 70% over the previous guidance given. In order to pay for the deal, Rice also announced they are floating a new massive round of stock, 40 million shares, which they hope will bring in something over $1 billion in cash. Here’s the details…
Read More “Rice Energy Buys Vantage Energy for $2.7B, 85K Marcellus Acres”
DTE Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | M3 Midstream | Momentum | Pipelines

DTE Energy Buys Marcellus/Utica Pipelines for $1.3B
September 27, 2016September 27, 2016

Click for larger version of AGS System map

The buyouts keep on rolling in. Detroit-based DTE Energy announced yesterday they are buying 100% of M3 Midstream’s Appalachia Gathering System (AGS), located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and 40% of M3’s Stonewall Gas Gathering (SGG), located in West Virginia. In addition DTE is buying another 15% of SGG owned by Vega Energy Partners. The combined deals will cost DTE $1.3 billion. Whew! Lots of moving parts in this story. Let’s sort it out. In April 2015 MDN told you that a section of M3 Midstream’s Appalachia Gathering System (AGS) had been spun off into its own company called Stonewall Gathering System (see M3’s New Stonewall Gathering System Extends Existing AGS in WV). At the time, plans were under way to build out gathering pipelines in West Virginia’s Harrison and Doddridge counties, running through Lewis and into Braxton County where the pipeline will connect with Columbia Transmission’s interstate pipeline. The plans came to fruition and the Stonewall Gathering System was built and now gathers 1 billion cubic feet of Marcellus Shale gas per day (see Construction on WV Stonewall Gather Pipeline Begins, Runs Thru Dec). Why does DTE want these two pipeline systems? Because they will provide a reliable source cheap, abundant, clean-burning Marcellus/Utica natural gas to DTE’s utility customers in the Midwest. These gathering systems already connect to the Columbia Gas Transmission and the Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline systems. They will also connect to the NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline once it’s built…
Read More “DTE Energy Buys Marcellus/Utica Pipelines for $1.3B”