Oxy Offers 80% Cash For Anadarko

Occidental Petroleum has updated the terms of its bid for Anadarko by saying it will pay 80 percent of the US$38 billion it is offering in cash, negating the need for shareholder approval. That is up from 50 percent earlier and just 25 percent when the original offer was made, the Houston Chronicle notes.

Occidental submitted its counter bid during negotiations between Anadarko and Chevron, which had offered US$65 per share or US$33 billion for the whole company. Oxy’s bid certainly beats the Chevron offer in terms of size, but some shareholders of Anadarko were nervous about the portion of the cash in the offer, so Oxy raised it and then raised it again.

In another update, Occidental said it would sell Anadarko’s African assets for US$8.8 billion if it wins the bidding war. The assets are spread from Algeria to Ghana, Mozambique, and South Africa. The buyer is French Total. The deal, according to Oxy’s press release would constitute a part of a divestment program worth between US$10 and US$15 billion and will facilitate the integration of Anadarko into the company.

The Anadarko acquisition has become the deal of the year with no comparable one likely to take place anytime soon. Anadarko is one of the largest oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin where Occidental is the largest. The appetite for the company is the latest indication that the Permian has become for the U.S. energy industry.

Anadarko’s board first accepted Chevron’s offer for US$33 billion and rejected Occidental’s initial proposal with the 25-percent cash option. When the latter sweetened the bid by raising the cash portion of the deal, Anadarko’s board agreed to consider it if Chevron fails to top it. With the further sweetening that Oxy has now done, Anadarko may have some serious considering to do, whatever Chevron comes up with as a counter bid.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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