Coal M&A news
Coal of AfricaLtd. said April 29 that a Chinese industrial conglomerate is conductingdue diligence to acquireup to a 34% share in its unit, BaobabMining & Exploration Pty. Ltd., which holds the mining rightover the Makhado coking coal project in South Africa.
Jindal Steel& Power Ltd. said May 4 that its board approved the sale of its1,000-MW power plant in India's Chhattisgarh state to The plant has anenterprise value of 65.00 billion Indian rupees. It may sell for as low as40.00 billion rupees, with a rise in valuation dependent on Jindal securingpower purchase agreements.
Natural gas/midstreamM&A news
The existing EnergyTransfer Equity LP and WilliamsCos. Inc.
A law firm has filed suit
Southern Co.has priced a $900 million publicoffering of its common shares that will help fund the company'sacquisition ofAGL Resources Inc.
After seeing their planned mega-merger , the top and executives discussedtheir plans to brushoff their disappointment and move forward. The merger, which was agreed to inNovember 2014 at a valuation of $34.6 billion, was called off May 1 aftermonths of stiff opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice and the EuropeanUnion.
Questar Corp.on May 5 said it would be pursuing a settlement in four lawsuits related to thecompany's planned merger with DominionResources Inc. Four suits are pending in the Utah State DistrictCourt, but Questar and other defendants in the merger litigation signed amemorandum of understanding to settle the lawsuits.
Duke EnergyCorp. executives see organic growth opportunities arising out ofthe company's proposed acquisitionof Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc.,but have no near-term plans to digest more gas assets. "We're excitedabout what the potential of the Piedmont acquisition represents for Duke, andour focus here in 2016 is on closing the transaction and also progressingAtlantic Coast pipeline and Sabal Trail," President, Chairman and CEO LynnGood said on the company's first-quarter 2016 earnings call.
TransCanadaCorp. has withdrawn the pre-merger notification for its plannedacquisition ofColumbia Pipeline Group Inc.and will file new documents with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on May 6.The new application will replace an April 4 filing and will trigger a new30-day review period by the FTC.
Phillips 66Partners LP has upsized its common unit offering for its with to 11,000,000common units, priced at $52.40 per unit. The partnership plans to use the netproceeds from the offering to repay part of its notes payable to Phillips 66 aspart of its consideration for the planned acquisition of the Standish pipelineand the remaining 75% ownership interest in Sweeny Frac LLC.
ChesapeakeEnergy Corp. has agreed to sell some of its assets in the STACKplay in northern Oklahoma for about $470 million. The transaction is expectedto close by the end of the third quarter. Chesapeake would divest about 42,000net acres and 400 producing wells generating 3,800 barrels of oil equivalentper day to Newfield ExplorationCo.
With a war chest of nearly $2 billion, Appalachian producerEQT Corp. could stillbe on the prowl for more cheap Marcellus and Utica shale leases from itsstressed competitors to add to its Pennsylvania and West Virginia leasehold. OnMay 2, EQT announcedthat it agreed tobuy62,500acres worth of West Virginia leases for $407 million from Norway's , most of it adjacent toEQT's land position, and is raising roughly $700 million in an upsizedsecondary stock offering.
According to mineral reserve landowner leadership, the sale of its oil and gas royalty assets has signaled the company'sexit from the oil and gas sector. "With the completed sales of a portionof our oil and gas and aggregates royalty properties, we were able to raise$47.5 million at attractive cash flow multiples to be used to pay down debt,"President and COO Wyatt Hogan said.