Chesapeake Energy Corporation Completes Tender Offer for Bronco Drilling Company, Inc.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) today announced that it has
successfully completed its tender offer for Bronco Drilling Company,
Inc. (NASDAQ: BRNC), which expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on
Friday, June 3, 2011.
Based on preliminary information from Computershare Trust Company, N.A.,
the depositary for the offer, as of the expiration of the tender offer,
approximately 24,959,224 shares (which includes 691,967 shares that were
tendered pursuant to guaranteed delivery procedures) were validly
tendered and not withdrawn in the tender offer, representing
approximately 86.7% of Bronco′s issued and outstanding shares. All
validly tendered shares have been accepted for payment, which will be
made in accordance with the terms of the tender offer.
After exercise of a top-up option granted by Bronco, Chesapeake intends
to complete its acquisition of the remaining shares of Bronco through a
short-form merger as soon as practical. In the short-form merger, any
remaining Bronco shares (other than those held by Chesapeake, Bronco or
any wholly-owned subsidiary of Chesapeake or Bronco, and any
shareholders who validly exercise their appraisal rights in connection
with the merger) will be exchanged for $11.00 per share in cash, subject
to applicable withholding taxes.
Johnson Rice & Company L.L.C. acted as financial advisor to Bronco.
Thompson & Knight LLP and Richards, Layton and Finger P.A. acted as
legal advisors to Bronco. Jefferies & Company, Inc. acted as financial
advisor to Chesapeake. Commercial Law Group, P.C. and Wachtell, Lipton,
Rosen & Katz acted as legal advisors to Chesapeake.
About Chesapeake:
Chesapeake Energy Corporation is the second-largest producer of
natural gas, a Top 15 producer of oil and natural gas liquids and the
most active driller of new wells in the U.S.Headquartered
in Oklahoma City, the company's operations are focused on discovering
and developing unconventional natural gas and oil fields onshore in the
U.S.Chesapeake owns leading positions in the Barnett,
Haynesville, Bossier, Marcellus and Pearsall natural gas shale plays and
in the Granite Wash, Cleveland, Tonkawa, Mississippian, Bone Spring,
Avalon, Wolfcamp, Wolfberry, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Three Forks/Bakken
and Utica unconventional liquids plays.The company has
also vertically integrated its operations and owns substantial
midstream, compression, drilling and oilfield service assets.Chesapeake′s
stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CHK.Further information is available at www.chk.com
where Chesapeake routinely posts announcements, updates, events,
investor information, presentations and press releases.
Forward Looking Statements:
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including
the anticipation of Chesapeake completing its acquisition of the
remaining shares of Bronco through a short-form merger. Forward-looking
statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future events.
Although we believe our forward-looking statements are reasonable, they
can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks
and uncertainties, and actual results may differ from the expectations
expressed. For a discussion of risk factors that affect business of both
Chesapeake and Bronco, see the 'Risk Factors? discussion in Chesapeake′s
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010
filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011,
and Bronco′s Annual Report on From 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2010 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
on March 15, 2011, as amended.We caution you not to place
undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which speak only as of
the date of this news release, and we undertake no obligation to update
this information.
Many of the factors that will determine the outcome of the subject
matter of this communication are beyond both Chesapeake′s and Bronco′s
ability to control or predict. Except to the extent required by
applicable law, neither Chesapeake nor Bronco undertakes any obligation
to revise or update any forward-looking statements, or to make any other
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future results or otherwise.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation
Jeffrey L. Mobley, CFA, 405-767-4763
Jeff.mobley@chk.com
or
Jim
Gipson, 405-935-1310
jim.gipson@chk.com
or
Bronco
Drilling Company, Inc.
Bob Jarvis, 405-242-4444, ext.102
bjarvis@broncodrill.com
