Statoil to acquire Brigham Exploration via all-cash tender offer

By Aleesia Forni

Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 17 - Statoil ASA announced its merger agreement with Brigham Exploration Co. through an all-cash tender offer, according to a press release on Monday.

The transaction is valued at approximately $4.7 billion, including $238 million of assumed Brigham debt as of June 30.

"We are positioning ourselves as a leading player in the fast growing U.S. onshore oil and gas industry, in line with the strategic direction we have set out," Helge Lund, president and chief executive officer of Statoil, said in the release.

Chief financial officer Torgrim Reitan said the company is "not in a situation where we need to hedge on an asset-by-asset level" during the company's investor briefing teleconference.

"We have enough predictability in that we have enough cash available at all time and all of that so it is not a necessity to hedge our production as we go," Reitan continued. "So we have the sufficient capital and cash available so we will think long term to develop these assets and these sets of assets."

As of June 30, Statoil reported cash and cash equivalents of roughly $15 billion

"So we have the financial capabilities to lift a transaction like this," Reitan said.

The deal is expected close at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

"A bigger enterprise with a larger balance sheet will be better positioned to take advantage of our large and growing inventory of Williston Basin drilling locations and the associated assets," Brigham's chief executive officer Ben Brigham said in the press release.

"We are excited to see the transaction completed and look forward to having our assets and employees integrate with the Statoil organization and the substantial asset position that they are growing in their U.S. onshore business."

Statoil is an energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway.

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