M&A

A pair of activist shareholders has taken a significant stake in Williams Cos. Inc., driving up the company’s share price, as the partners pursue a plan to improve the midstream company’s performance and potentially put it in play in the current environment of ongoing midstream consolidation.

Freeport LNG Expansion LP has snagged a $1.3 billion equity investment from IFM Investors for its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction and export facility on Quintana Island near Freeport, TX. Funds will support development of the facility’s second train.

Unitholders and shareholders of LINN Energy LLC, LinnCo LLC and Berry Petroleum Co. have approved the companies’ merger and related transactions on Monday, setting the deal on course for closure as it passed its final hurdle at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22). The deal is said to be the first-ever acquisition of a C-corporation by an upstream limited liability company or master limited partnership. Linn Energy last month raised its offer for Berry by $600 million, reinvigorating the mega-deal (see Daily GPI, Nov. 4).

Upstream merger and acquisition (M&A) activity isn’t as slow as some believe, but now it’s about asset transactions, rather than mega corporate takeovers, a Raymond James & Co. Inc. analyst said in a note Monday.

Innovation and infrastructure investments, peppered with good old fashioned persistence, have cooked up an energy feast in North America, but it’s going to need astute chefs to manage it into the future, experts at Deloitte LLP said Tuesday.

The once and former king of unconventional natural gas production in the United States, Devon Energy Corp., is selling close to one-third of its gas reserves to give it more leverage in a bid to become a top North American oil producer, CEO John Richels said Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has approved a settlement to allow Peoples Natural Gas Co. to purchase Equitable Gas Co. for $720 million, a deal which will also create the largest local distribution company (LDC) in the state.

More than one-third of 169 senior oil and natural gas executives worldwide expect to go after acquisitions in the next year, according to EY’s ninth biannual Oil and Gas Capital confidence barometer.

Carlyle Group plans to raise $7 billion for energy funds over the next two years, with more than half — $4 billion — targeting North America, executives said during an investor presentation in New York City.