The bid from Occidental Petroleum comes only days after Anadarko Petroleum signed a definitive agreement with California-based Chevron to be acquired in a deal valued at $50bn.
Occidental Petroleum’s offer is $76 per share, which comprises $38 in cash plus 0.6094 of its shares, in exchange of each of Anadarko Petroleum’s shares.
Chevron, on the other hand, agreed to pay $65 per share, made up of $16.25 in cash and 0.3869 of its shares, to the Texas-based oil and gas company.
Occidental Petroleum believes its bid to be financially and strategically superior for Anadarko Petroleum’s shareholders with the proposed merger to result in a global energy leader.
The combined company following the merger is expected to have both the scale and geographic diversification to bring in growth.
Through the acquisition, Occidental Petroleum expects to improve its position as the largest producer in the Permian Basin with 533 thousand Boe/d of production. Furthermore, the company said that the merger will combine leading assets and best-in-class economics, which will help in fast tracking its value-driven strategy in the US onshore sector.
Occidental Petroleum president and CEO Vicki Hollub said: “Occidental is a leader in using technological innovation to create value, and we will deploy our expertise to enhance the performance and productivity of Anadarko’s assets not only in the Permian, but globally.
“Occidental and Anadarko have a highly complementary asset portfolio, providing us with a unique opportunity to realize significant operating, cost, and capital allocation synergies and achieve near-term cash flow accretion.”
Anadarko Petroleum said that its board of directors will look into the Occidental Petroleum’s offer carefully to determine the course of action in the best interest of its stockholders and in accordance with the terms of the earlier merger agreement it signed with Chevron.
The company stated: “The Anadarko board expects to respond to Occidental’s proposal upon completing its review, and accordingly reaffirms its existing recommendation of the transaction with Chevron at this time.”
