Uno degli emittenti in portafoglio ha intrapreso un percorso di cessione di asset finalizzato alla riduzione del debito, con obiettivo il recupero dell'investment grade. Si tratta di Chesapeake Energy.
Questi processi sono sempre interessanti da seguire in quanto, quando hanno successo, portano ad una riduzione dei rendimenti e possono costituire occasioni di investimento.
Certo, dipende da una serie di fattori, non ultimo la disponibilità di credito che consenta agli acquirenti degli asset di finanziare l'acquisizione e che favorisca le trattative sul prezzo.
Ad ogni modo, si può pensare di seguire la vicenda e di provare ad acquistare su eventuale debolezza del titolo legata ad un andamento compartimentale dell'HY poco lusinghiero ove continuasse una fase di debolezza dell'equity... interessante l'aspetto dell'alleanza strategica con i cinesi...
Chesapeake to Raise Up to $5 Billion to Reduce Debt (Update1)
May 10, 2010, 10:09 PM EDT
(Updates with analyst comment in fourth paragraph.)
By David Wethe
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Chesapeake Energy Corp., the third- largest U.S. natural-gas producer, said it will raise as much as $5 billion to reduce debt and achieve investment-grade credit ratings.
Over the next 24 months, steps such as a sale of preferred stock and the sale of a stake in a subsidiary will raise cash to cut debt by as much as $3.5 billion and fund increased investment in drilling for oil and gas liquids, Oklahoma City- based Chesapeake said today in a statement.
The company is also planning to further monetize midstream assets through one of its subsidiaries, possibly with Global Infrastructure Partners L.P.
“On the fringes, maybe it’s a little bit better, but it doesn’t do a lot for me,” said Philip Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research Corp. in New York, who rates the shares at “hold” and owns none. “They’ve been saying they’re going to get this investment-grade debt for a while.”
Chesapeake said it’s planning to sell as much as a 20 percent stake in its Marcellus Shale subsidiary in the next three to 12 months.
Maju Investments Pte Ltd. and Hampton Asset Holding Ltd. have agreed to buy $600 million in the company’s preferred stock, Chesapeake said.
Chesapeake, which is aiming to operate a 50-rig program in its liquids-rich projects over the next year, said it plans to enter into a joint venture on its Eagle Ford play in South Texas, where it has about 400,000 net acres.
The company released the statement after the close of regular trading.
Chesapeake climbed $1.19, or 5.4 percent, to $23.10 as of 4:03 p.m. on New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares, which have 18 buy ratings from analysts, 11 holds and 2 sells, have dropped 10.7 percent this year.
Hanno proceduto con rapidità all'adc, ed ora sono alle dismissioni .... chi avesse preso il bond in euro di Chesapeake a suo tempo avrebbe fatto un buon affare...
Cnooc to Invest $2.16 Billion in Chesapeake
HOUSTON—
Cnooc Ltd. will buy a stake in
Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s shale oil and gas acreage in south Texas, spending a total of $2.16 billion over the next two years and marking the first major investment by a Chinese state-run company in onshore energy reserves in the U.S.
Cnooc and Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake, announced late Sunday that Cnooc will purchase a 33.3% interest in its 600,000-acre Eagle Ford shale assets for an initial $1.08 billion in cash, in an agreement due to be completed by the end of the year.
Under the terms of the deal, Cnooc will also fund 75% of Chesapeake's share of drilling and other costs until an additional $1.08 billion has been paid, which Chesapeake expects to happen by the end of 2012.
Technical advances allowing the development of vast reserves of natural gas trapped in tight rock formations called shales have transformed the U.S. energy sector in recent years, provoking a wave of merger and acquisition activity and sharply reducing reliance on gas imports.
Many foreign energy majors, keen on learning the skills required to tap gas that U.S. companies like Chesapeake have pioneered, have bought into their projects, bringing with them much needed cash. But up to now, China has been absent.
Chinese companies had been reluctant to invest in the U.S. since Cnooc was blocked in a 2005 bid to take over California-based Unocal Corp. following political uproar.
However, Cnooc subsequently made a small investment in U.S. energy assets--last year it bought a stake in a deepwater offshore field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from
Statoil ASA.
Both China and India, which are heavily dependent on imported oil and gas, are now among those foreign companies hoping to replicate the success seen in the U.S. with their own shale gas reserves. China previously focused on inviting U.S. companies into its tightly controlled onshore gas acreage in order to gain technical knowledge rather than investing abroad.
India's
Reliance Industries Ltd. has, by contrast, put up more than $3 billion in a series of U.S. deals this year.
The International Energy Agency says China has reserves of 26 trillion cubic meters of shale gas, which it hasn't been able to access due to a lack of drilling know-how.
China's sole foray into North American shale gas up to now had been a non-binding pact between China National Petroleum Corp. and Canada's
Encana Corp. to set up a joint venture to exploit reserves in British Columbia.
Mirae Asset Securities analyst Gordon Kwan described the current deal as a "win-win," since Chesapeake has a weak balance sheet that has hindered its ability to fully monetize its vast natural gas resources, while Cnooc's "supernormal production growth" had outpaced its increase of reserves in recent years.
Industry consultancy Wood Mackenzie says China's demand for imported liquefied natural gas will surge to 46 million metric tons a year in 2020 from 5.5 million tons imported last year. It forecasts that China's gas demand will rise to 444 billion cubic meters annually in 2030 from 93 billion cubic meters in 2009.
China's Ministry of Land and Resources wants domestic annual shale gas output capacity to reach 15 billion to 30 billion cubic meters by 2020, from current negligible levels.
Chesapeake will be the operator of the joint project in Texas, handling all leasing, drilling and completion operations, as well as selling the oil and gas.
The company, one of the largest U.S. oil and gas independents, plans to increase its rig count in the Eagle Ford to 12 from 10 rigs by year-end, using Cnooc's cash.
By the end of 2011, it expects to have 31 rigs, and by 2012, 40 rigs. The area could produce up to 400,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the next decade, Chesapeake said.
Chesapeake Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon said in a statement that the transaction "will provide the capital necessary to accelerate drilling of this large domestic oil and natural gas resource, resulting in a reduction of our country's oil imports over time, the creation of thousands of high-paying jobs in the U.S. and in the payment of very significant local, state and federal taxes."
Cnooc chairman Fu Chengyu said that partnering with Chesapeake in the projects "not only satisfies the spirit of Sino-U.S. cooperation in the energy sector, but also underscores Cnooc's responsible approach to climate-change issues and its social responsibilities."
The Cnooc agreement is the major second U.S. shale deal announced Sunday:
Talisman Energy Inc. announced a joint venture with Statoil to buy 97,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford shale for $1.325 billion.
Cnooc's shares reacted positively to the news, outperforming the local index. It recently traded in Hong Kong up 4% at 16.72 Hong Kong dollars ($2.16) a share, versus a Heng Seng index rise of 1.2%.
