Duo offload Diversified Energy shares
Diversified Energy’s shareholders EIG and FS KKR offloaded US$78.6m of the energy company’s shares, taking advantage of the stock’s near 20% rise over the past six months.
Mizuho Securities, Raymond James and Citigroup were joint bookrunners on the sale of an upsized 5.7m secondary shares at US$13.75, toward the bottom of the US$13.70–$14.05 marketed range.
The pricing was set at a 10.8% discount to its Tuesday closing price of US$15.41, necessitated by the hefty 15-days’ trading volume sold on the deal. Not surprisingly, the offering was wall-crossed ahead of the overnight marketing.
Diversified Energy shares closed on Wednesday at US$14.04, comfortably above offer.
The Appalachian Basin-focused E&P, dual-listed in London and New York, bought 750,000 shares for its employees through a trust managed by a third-party trustee.
EIG, an 18.4% shareholder, and FS KKR Capital, a BDC that is publicly traded and a joint venture between FS Investment and KKR & Co, sold on the deal.
Energy-focused private equity firm EIG inherited that stake when it sold Maverick Natural Resources to Diversified Energy in a US$1.3bn deal at the beginning of this year.
The Maverick purchase gave Diversified a foothold in the Permian Basin.