Anadarko restarts talks with Occidental

Anadarko Petroleum intends to resume negotiations with Occidental Petroleum in response to the latter’s proposal to acquire Anadarko.

Anadarko had previously entered into a definitive merger agreement with Chevron Corporation, the company reminded in its statement.

“Anadarko is resuming its earlier negotiations with Occidental because Anadarko’s board of directors, following consultation with its financial and legal advisors, has unanimously determined that the Occidental Proposal could reasonably be expected to result in a “Superior Proposal” as defined in the Chevron Merger Agreement,” the statement reads.

The Occidental proposal reflects significant improvement with respect to indicative value, terms and conditions, and closing certainty as compared to any previous proposal Occidental made to Anadarko.

Under the Occidental proposal, Occidental would acquire Anadarko in a transaction with consideration comprised of $38.00 in cash and 0.6094 of a share of Occidental common stock per share of Anadarko common stock.

Under the Chevron merger agreement, Chevron would acquire Anadarko in a transaction with consideration comprised of $16.25 in cash and 0.3869 of a share of Chevron common stock per share of Anadarko common stock.

The Anadarko board’s determination allows Anadarko to resume negotiations with Occidental in accordance with the Chevron deal. The Chevron deal, however,  remains in effect and accordingly the Anadarko board reaffirms its existing recommendation of the transaction with Chevron at this time.

However, Anadarko said there can be no assurance that negotiations with Occidental will result in a transaction that is superior to the pending transaction with Chevron. Further, the terms of any transaction with Occidental may vary from those reflected in the Occidental proposal.

Evercore and Goldman Sachs & Co. are acting as financial advisors to Anadarko. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is acting as legal advisor to Anadarko.