Chesapeake Corp. (CHK) agreed to sell 58,400 acres of Oklahoma
assets to a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) for about $590
million in cash, the natural-gas producer's latest major
divestiture.
The company also said it finished selling preferred shares in a
new subsidiary called CHK Cleveland Tonkawa LLC to a group led by a
Blackstone Group (BX) affiliate, delivering about $1.25 billion of
proceeds. Chesapeake maintains all the common equity interest in
the CHK C-T.
Separately, Chesapeake closed its sale of 10-year volumetric
production payments to an affiliate of Morgan Stanley (MS) for
about $745 million for some producing assets in its Anadarko Basin
Granite Wash play.
Chesapeake said Monday it has closed 10 volumetric production
payment deals since December 2007, generating about $6.4 billion of
proceeds.
The agreements are the latest in a series of deals Chesapeake
has struck in recent months to raise capital as low natural-gas
prices hurt its top line. The second-largest U.S. natural gas
producer behind Exxon has been under pressure from some
shareholders and analysts to reduce spending and pare debt.
Chesapeake Chief Executive Aubrey K. McClendon called the latest
Oklahoma assets being sold nonstrategic to the company and promised
to monetize more holdings this year, including assets in its East
Texas Woodbine play. The Exxon deal is expected to close April
30.
Chesapeake shares were recently up 1.3% at $21.75 after hours.
The stock is off 37% over the past year.
-By Drew FitzGerald, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2909;
Andrew.FitzGerald@dowjones.com