Obviously there were some heavily leveraged distrssed players in the Appalachians, who have had to sell assets. Big price for a size acerage close to the the same as IMP's, can't be bad for IMP's valuation, but today's IMP price action is far from exciting, looks like we might struggle to even close 0.006 Bid -------------------------------------------------
Dominion Agrees to Sell Its Appalachian E&P Business for $3.475 Billion - Sale includes Marcellus acreage - Transaction is accretive to earnings per share, reduces commodity sensitivity and eliminates need to issue new equity in 2010 and 2011 - Company affirms 2010 operating earnings guidance of $3.20 to $3.40 per share RICHMOND, Va., March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dominion (NYSE: D) today announced that it has agreed to sell its natural gas and oil exploration and production business to a newly-formed subsidiary of CONSOL Energy (NYSE: CNX), for a total of $3.475 billion, subject to adjustments pursuant to the terms of the Purchase and Sale Agreement. The transaction includes the rights to approximately 491,000 acres in the Marcellus formation.
"With today's announced divestiture, Dominion is taking another significant step in moving toward a more regulated business model. This transaction is accretive to earnings per share, reduces our commodity sensitivity by over 20 percent, and eliminates our need to issue new shares to fund our infrastructure growth program through 2011," said Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Farrell II.
"We are gratified that CONSOL will end up with such an outstanding company. Dominion's exploration and production activities in the Appalachian region have had an excellent record of success. We wish to thank the employees of our E&P business for their outstanding work and professionalism."
IMP Price at posting:
9.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
