M&A

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Williams

Corp Raider Who Quit Williams Board Wants Now Wants Back On
August 25, 2016August 26, 2016

Keith “Mini-Me” Meister, a protege of Carl Icahn and disgusting corporate raider bent on ruining Williams, just can’t stay away. He owns a lot of Williams stock (something like 4% of all Williams stock), and when Mini-Me Meister couldn’t get his own way in forcing Williams to merge with Energy Transfer Equity (see Dead as a Doornail: ETE Terminates Merger with Williams), and when Mini-Me and five other Williams board members couldn’t subsequently force Williams CEO Alan Armstrong to resign, he and the other others quit in a huff (see Half of Williams Board, Including 2 Corporate Raiders, Quit ). We told you earlier this week that Mini-Me Meister is trying to incite a shareholder revolt (see Corporate Raiders Try to Incite Shareholder Revolt at Williams). Now comes word that Meister has put his own name and nine others (from his corporate raider company, Corvex) forward to stand for election to the board of directors. It’s called a proxy fight to win control of the company. It will be expensive to combat, but Williams must combat it if they want to keep an independent company and not layoff thousands of people…
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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Williams

Corporate Raiders Try to Incite Shareholder Revolt at Williams
August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

On Friday MDN reported that Enterprise Products Partners, a huge midstream company, wants to buy Williams (see Here We Go Again: Enterprise Products Wants to Buy Williams). Yes, we’ve seen this movie before. Last year Energy Transfer Equity’s CEO Kelcy Warren tried the same thing–which ended in disaster earlier this year (see Dead as a Doornail: ETE Terminates Merger with Williams). History is repeating itself. The same agitators–corporate raiders–are once again pressuring Williams to accept the Enterprise offer as they tried to get Williams to accept ETE’s earlier offer. Keith “Mini Me” Meister, a protege of Carl Icahn, is one of the corporate raiders pressuring Williams. Why? So Mini-Me can flip his large amount of Williams stock at a considerable profit (screwing employees of Williams in the process). Once again, here’s why corporate raiders, like Keith Meister, are disgusting low-lifes in our book…
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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Williams

Here We Go Again: Enterprise Products Wants to Buy Williams
August 19, 2016August 19, 2016

Just when you thought things had finally settled down with midstream giant Williams, a new rumor is making the rounds. Brief history: Energy Transfer Equity’s (ETE) billionaire CEO Kelsy Warren propositioned Williams for over six months before going public with his overtures (see Energy Transfer Makes “Indecent Proposal” to Buy Williams for $48B). Williams resisted, but eventually they caved and agreed to the deal, although the deal price went down by $10 billion (see Williams Accepts ETE’s “Indecent Proposal” – Price Went Down $10B). Warren claims he got snookered and got cold feet, eventually bailing (see Dead as a Doornail: ETE Terminates Merger with Williams). Now the rumor mill is buzzing. Another company, Enterprise Products Partners, is making overtures to buy Williams for an undisclosed sum…
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Industrywide Issues | M&A | Research

Deloitte Oil & Gas M&A Report: Lowest Activity in Years
August 16, 2016August 16, 2016

“Everyone” thought that with low prices for oil and gas, and companies not able to turn a profit and heading into bankruptcy, that there would be a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the oil and gas industry. “Everyone” was wrong. According to the just-released “Oil & Gas Mergers and Acquisitions Report – Mid-year 2016” from powerhouse consulting firm Deloitte (full copy below), M&A activity in the o&g industry is at its lowest point in years. The number of deals in the first half of 2016 was 198, an “extremely low” number compared to what it has been in past years. Where were the highest number of M&As? The number one shale play where deals were done was the Permian Basin–an extremely oil-rich shale layer in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The number two shale play where deals were done was, yep, the Marcellus Shale. Here’s the low down…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Sand/Proppant | U.S. Silica

US Silica 2Q16: So-So Quarter, Buys Frack Logistics Company
August 9, 2016August 9, 2016

Last week U.S. Silica, one of the largest frac sand providers in the U.S., issued their second quarter 2016 update last week. Frac sand providers are a good barometer for when/if drilling is coming back. You don’t order sand unless you’re drilling wells. The company lost $12 million in 2Q16 versus losing $10 million in 2Q15. However, $1.1 million of that was due to “restructuring costs.” What about revenue? Revenue was $117 million in 2Q16 versus $147.5 million in 2Q15. So we can sum up 2Q16 as “so-so.” Not terrible, not good. With luck, 3Q16 will look better (with drilling beginning to pick up). However, in a sign that U.S. Silica believes the market will come back, they also announced last week they are buying out Sandbox Enterprises, “a leading provider of innovative logistics solutions and technology for the transportation of proppant used in hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry.” That’s a sure sign they think oil and gas is coming back…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | M&A

NextEra Energy Sells Philly NatGas Power Plant to Starwood
August 1, 2016August 1, 2016

Marcus Hook Energy Center

Here’s something you don’t see often: one energy company selling their natural gas-fired electric generating plants to another energy company. NextEra Energy announced last Friday they are selling their 790-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle Marcus Hook Energy Center and the 50-MW simple-cycle Marcus Hook 50 Energy Center (both in Marcus Hook, on the outskirts of Philadelphia) to Starwood Energy Group Global, an energy infrastructure investment firm. The price tag is a cool $760 million. NextEra’s CEO Armando Pimentel uttered an gobbledygook statement about how it fits their long-term plans to divest the Marcus Hook plant (gives them money to spend on other things). Here’s the press release from Starwood…
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Industrywide Issues | M&A

Constellation Buys NatGas Business from ConEdison Solutions
July 28, 2016July 28, 2016

Constellation, a subsidiary company of Exelon Corporation, announced a deal yesterday with ConEdison Solutions (a subsidiary of New York’s Consolidated Edison) to buy ConEdison Solutions’ retail electricity and natural gas business. The deal means more than 560,000 commercial, industrial, public sector and residential customers across 12 Northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern states, Texas, and the District of Columbia will become part of the Constellation family. Interestingly, ConEdison said it is selling its (regulated) electricity and natural gas business to focus on its (deregulated) renewable energy, sustainability services and energy efficiency business. Why is this Marcellus news? We see it as a potential new market for Marcellus/Utica Shale gas. Below is the announcement, along with some analysis of what’s really going (the motivation) with this deal…
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CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | M&A

ExxonMobil Buying InterOil for $2.5B – Another LNG Love Story
July 22, 2016July 22, 2016

In early 2015, MDN brought you the news that Shell was making a play to buy BG Group for $69.7 billion (see LNG Love Story: Shell Makes Play to Buy BG in $69.7B Megamerger). As we pointed out, the purchase was all about LNG, or liquefied natural gas. Shell consummated the deal in February of this year (see Shell & BG One Company After Today, Shell Ponies Up $14.4B Cash). The “man on the street” may not realize it, but the Shell/BG merger was the biggest such merger in the oil and gas industry since Exxon purchased and merged with Mobil in an $89 billion deal, back in 1999. ExxonMobil is now making its own LNG play. Yesterday the company announced a deal to purchase InterOil, an LNG company based in Papua New Guinea, for $2.5 billion. Yes, a MUCH smaller deal than the Shell/BG merger–but it points out the direction things are heading. Big Oil is making tracks to become Big Gas. The writing is on the wall. Eventually oil and petroleum-based products will recede. The obvious alternative is clean-burning natural gas. When the world’s largest oil companies say (and prove with their actions) that the future is in natural gas, well, that’s a tectonic shift in the oil and gas industry…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Duke Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Rabid Anti-Fossil Fuelers Object to Duke-Piedmont Merger
July 20, 2016July 20, 2016

When will anti-fossil fuel madness that seems to spread like the Zika virus begin to subside? Anti-fossil fuel madness is just as destructive as Zika for those it infects. Take the case of the proposed merger/buyout of Piedmont Natural Gas by utility powerhouse Duke Energy for $6.7 billion (see Duke Energy Buys Piedmont NatGas for $6.7B, Marcellus Connection). Rabid anti-fossil fuelers object to the deal because, well, because they’re idiots and they don’t want a single molecule more of natgas used to power electric plants–even though it’s cleaner than coal and even though without electricity these ignoramuses wouldn’t be able to exist. Why? Because natgas is a hated fossil fuel and burning fossil fuels, according to the nuttiest of the nutters, is catastrophically heating up ol’ Mom Earth. Therefore Duke shouldn’t buy Piedmont. That’s the twisted thinking process going on in their heads…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Regulation

Irony: DOJ Scuttled Halliburton/BH Merger, then Collects $11M Fine
July 14, 2016July 14, 2016

The news is now months old that Halliburton and Baker Hughes ended their attempt to merge. The reason they called it off was because of opposition from the Obama Department of Justice (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). The companies didn’t have the stomach to go up against the bullies at DOJ. So it was the DOJ that actually killed the deal. During the process of DOJ’s review, an “activist investor” (i.e. corporate raider) by the name of ValueAct Capital snapped up $2.6 billion worth of Halliburton and Baker Hughes stock with, according to the DOJ, the intent to influence the companies’ business decisions as the merger unfolded.” The DOJ charged ValueAct “with violating the reporting and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act” (see DOJ Sues ValueAct Capital for Meddling in Halliburton/BH Merger). ValueAct has settled by paying $11 million in shakedown money to the DOJ to make it all go away. Which we find ironic. The DOJ killed the deal, and yet the DOJ is extracting money for the deal they killed…
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Energy Services | Fountain Quail Disposal | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | M&A

GreenHunter Out of Bankruptcy, Merges with Fountain Quail Disposal
July 7, 2016July 7, 2016

Kirk Trosclair

In December we reported the sad news that Magnum Hunter Resources (MHR) finally had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (see Sad Day: Magnum Hunter Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy). MHR has a variety of subsidiary companies. One of those companies, GreenHunter Resources (water and wastewater) also succumbed and filed for bankruptcy in March (see Another Sad Day: GreenHunter Resources Files for Bankruptcy). “Restructuring” as it’s called, was completed for GreenHunter in May and the company emerged from bankruptcy under the ownership of a private equity firm. GreenHunter has shed its name and merged with/taken on a new name: Fountain Quail Disposal. The CEO of Fountain Quail is the former Executive Vice President and COO of GreenHunter, Kirk Trosclair. So Trosclair survived the bankruptcy process, unlike his former boss Gary Evans (see Magnum Hunter Emerges from Bankruptcy with CEO Gary Evans Gone). Here’s what we know about GreenHunter becoming Fountain Quail Disposal…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | TC Energy/TransCanada

Columbia Pipeline’s Top Leadership Quits After Sale to TransCanada
July 5, 2016July 5, 2016

Last Friday MDN told you that TransCanada completed its $10 billion purchase of Columbia Pipeline Group (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). Promptly following the deal’s close, most of Columbia’s top management, including the CEO, president, executive vice president/chief financial officer and the company’s top lawyer quit. Although the announcement doesn’t say, we suspect they had golden parachutes of some kind. Given the timing of the announcement, immediately following the deal’s closing, it was no doubt in the works for months…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | TC Energy/TransCanada

TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today
July 1, 2016July 1, 2016

In March MDN reported that Canadian midstream giant TransCanada wants a bigger piece of the Marcellus/Utica pipeline pie and decided to buy Columbia Pipeline Group for $10 billion (see TransCanada Makes Play to Buy Columbia Pipeline for $10B). The deal is now done. As of today, Columbia Pipeline Group’s stock is officially de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange and trades no more. Columbia is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian midstream giant TransCanada…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | M&A | Williams

Williams Admits There Will be no Merger, Suing ETE for “Damages”
June 30, 2016June 30, 2016

Finally Williams has admitted, in writing, that the attempted buyout/merger by Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) is, as we said yesterday, dead (see Dead as a Doornail: ETE Terminates Merger with Williams). Williams has also admitted (in so many words) what we’ve been saying for more than a month: the vote by Williams “for” the merger and all of the recent goings on have been legal posturing. Williams says they are suing ETE “for monetary damages” for “its breaches.” Here’s the Williams admission issued yesterday in response to ETE’s termination of the deal…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Williams

Aborted Williams Merger/Shenanigans Take the Shine Off ETE’s CEO
June 30, 2016June 30, 2016

ETE CEO Kelsey Warren

Until now, Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) CEO Kelsey Warren has been the golden boy. By snapping up a series of small pipeline companies at just the right time, Warren has created the ETE empire and turned himself into a billionaire in the process. It seemed he could do no wrong when it came to midstream business deals. And then he bit off more than he could chew: Williams. Warren pursued Williams for more than six months before it became public (see Energy Transfer Makes “Indecent Proposal” to Buy Williams for $48B). It took another three months after that before he finally got them to agree to a merger (see Williams Accepts ETE’s “Indecent Proposal” – Price Went Down $10B). Whether it was rotten timing, or rotten planning, the natural gas market crashed and the deal turned from crowning jewel to albatross. Along the way Warren pulled some shenanigans, like creating a privileged class of stock that gave himself and his buddies a leg up on Williams shareholders (see Merger Turns Sour: Williams Sues ETE/CEO Kelcy Warren). A Bloomberg article chronicles the rise, and now fall, of the midstream’s golden boy…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | M&A | Williams

Dead as a Doornail: ETE Terminates Merger with Williams
June 29, 2016June 29, 2016

As we previously reported, last Friday a Delaware court ruled that Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) has the right to terminate its merger agreement with Williams (see Court Says ETE Can Terminate Williams Merger; Williams Votes Today). But as we also said, at that time ETE had not officially announced they were terminating the merger. They now have. Yesterday ETE said they have filed the official paperwork to dump the merger/takeover of Williams. Williams is continuing to litigate to try and force ETE to do the deal by appealing the court’s decision (see Williams Shareholders Vote “For” ETE Merger; Appeal Court Ruling). This deal is as dead as a doornail and everyone knows it–including Williams. What’s going on is legal posturing so Williams can try and extract money from ETE over the now-abandoned takeover attempt. In some ways we don’t blame Williams–they resisted ETE’s overtures for nine months before caving and agreeing. Of course, Williams caved and agreed because there are evil corporate raiders on the board pressuring the company to do so. As we’ve maintained all along–no one comes out of this smelling pretty…
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