Energy

Occidental Petroleum Stomps on Chevron's $33 Billion Offer for Anadarko

Paul Ausick

Published: April 24, 2019 10:29 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 9:41 pm

When Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) announced its $33 billion cash and stock bid for Anadarko Petroleum Co. (NYSE: APC) earlier this month, one of the most surprised observers had to be Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY), which was said to be in active discussions with Anadarko for a buyout in the mid-$70-per-share range, including 40% in cash. At the time, Oxy said it would consider taking its offer directly to shareholders.

What Oxy did instead was send an offer letter to Anadarko’s board Wednesday morning proposing an acquisition valued at $76 per Anadarko share, half of which would be paid in cash and half with 0.6094 shares of Occidental for each Anadarko share. At Anadarko’s closing price Tuesday night, the offer is worth $57 billion, including Oxy’s assumption of Anadarko’s debt. According to Oxy, its offer represents a premium of about 20% to Chevron’s offer.

Including the assumption of Anadarko’s debt, Chevron’s offer was valued at around $50 billion. Chevron is paying 25% in cash and 75% in stock because, according to a report from CNBC, Anadarko wanted more shares in Chevron than cash. Oxy’s shares, apparently, command less interest from Anadarko’s board.

Oxy is one of the largest producers in the Permian Basin, currently pumping about 10% of all the oil that flows out of the region. The company holds leases on nearly 2.7 million net acres, and about 57% of the company’s total worldwide production in 2018 came from its Permian Basin operations.

In the letter to Anadarko’s board, Oxy’s CEO Vicki Hollub said that its board has unanimously approved the offer and that the company has secured financing commitments for the cash portion of the deal. Hollub also chided Anadarko for paying Oxy a break-up fee of $1 billion “without even picking up the phone to speak to us after we made two proposals during the week of April 8 that were at a significantly higher value to the transaction you were apparently negotiating with Chevron.” Those rumored talks were indeed happening.

As with Chevron’s offer, Oxy expects regulatory and shareholder approvals in time to close the deal in the second half of this year.

Occidental shares traded down about 3.2% to $60.35 Wednesday morning, in a 52-week range of $56.83 to $87.67. The 12-month consensus price target on the stock is $78.07.

Anadarko shares traded up 11.5%, at $71.34 in a 52-week range of $40.40 to $76.50, while Chevron’s stock traded down about 1.9% to $119.70, in a 52-week range of $100.22 to $131.08.