Shell Oil proposes to acquire Barrett Resources
7 Mar 2001
Shell Oil has made a proposal to the Board of Directors of Barrett Resources Corporation, a Denver-based independent natural gas and oil exploration and production company, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Barrett common stock at a price of $55.00 per share in cash.
The price offered represents a 24% premium over the February 28, 2001 closing price of $44.25, the day before Shell first made its acquisition proposal.
This offer represents an aggregate purchase price of approximately $1.8 billion plus the assumption of Barrett's debt of approximately $400 million.
Barrett has advised Shell that the Barrett Board of Directors will consider the proposal at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 7th and 8th, 2001 and will respond to Shell's proposal no later than Friday, March 9, 2001.
'The acquisition of Barrett will give Shell an immediate material presence in the Rocky Mountain region, the second largest natural gas basin in the U.S., as well as significant additional natural gas production and reserves,' said Mr. Walter van de Vijver, President and CEO of Shell Exploration & Production Company, the exploration and production arm of Shell Oil Company.
Barrett's properties are focused primarily in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, the Mid-Continent area of Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas, and the Gulf of Mexico region of offshore Texas and Louisiana.
The company has over 200 employees and reported 2000 revenues of $376 million from oil and gas operations.
