Conoco to Buy Marathon Oil at $22.5 Billion Enterprise Value Including Debt
American oil company ConocoPhillips has agreed to buy Marathon Oil at an enterprise value (EV) of $22.5 billion, the companies said in a press release. The EV includes net debt of $5.4 billion. The settlement will be made exclusively in shares.
Marathon shareholders will receive 0.255 Conoco shares for each share, which implies a premium of 14.7% to the Marathon share price at the close of the market the day before.
The deal is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter.
Regardless of the deal, Conoco intends to increase its dividend by 34%, to 78 cents per share, starting in the fourth quarter.
After the deal closes, it also plans to increase the buyback in the first full year after the merger to more than $7 billion from more than $5 billion and buy back more than $20 billion in the first three years.
Earlier on May 29, the Financial Times reported on the imminent conclusion of the deal.
Conoco shares are down 3.3% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, while Marathon is up 6.8%.
