Chesapeake To Buy Chief E&D Holdings In $2 Bln Cash, About 9.44 Mln Shares

(RTTNews) - Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK) on Tuesday announced its decision to acquire Chief E&D Holdings and associated non-operated interests held by affiliates of Tug Hill, Inc. for $2 billion in cash and nearly 9.44 million shares.

Chief and Tug Hill hold high quality producing assets and an inventory of premium drilling locations in the prolific Marcellus Shale in Northeast Pennsylvania, Chesapeake said in a statement.

The acquisition is expected to immediately enhance production, operating cash flow per share, free cash flow per share, free cash flow yield and GHG emissions profile. It increases cumulative five-year free cash flow outlook to more than $9 billion at current commodity strip prices. Following closure of the deal, the company expects its portfolio to generate about 75% of 2022 projected cash flow from natural gas assets and 25% from oil assets.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Further, the company has decided to sell its Powder River Basin assets in Wyoming to Continental Resources, Inc. (CLR) for about $450 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.