Rosetta Resources Keeps Oil Recovery Upside In $2.1B Noble Energy Deal
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Noble and Rosetta are mergingNoble Energy’s NBL -6.21% $2.1 billion acquisition of Eagle Ford driller Rosetta Resources won’t rank in the top 25 deals of 2015, but for the troubled oil patch the all-stock merger represents a major point of progress. Finally, a healthy buyer and a seller with balance sheet trouble on the horizon have found a middle ground that balances opportunism with an inclination among distressed energy CEO’s to hold out a recovery in oil prices.
The all-stock nature of Noble’s deal for Rosetta clearly goes some way in taking distress out of the shale sector. At current oil prices, Rosetta was looking at the prospect its leverage would rise about 40% through the course of 2015 as $90-a barrel oil hedges roll off its books. But by acquiring Rosetta’s 66,000 barrels of equivalent a day of oil production and its $1.8 billion in debt, Noble isn’t expected to see much of a balance sheet impact. Net leverage is expected to rise from 2.5x to about 2.75x once the deal closes, expected in the third quarter…
Rosetta Resources Keeps Oil Recovery Upside In $2.1B Noble Energy Deal
