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by Baker McKenzie

The Occidental megadeal that didn’t go quite as planned

M&A is tough. Megadeals can be even tougher. That’s exactly what Vicki Hollub, CEO of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum, discovered with last year’s $55bn takeover of US shale oil producer Anadarko Petroleum.  

In May 2019, with the $10bn backing of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Hollub successfully managed to fend off Occidental’s larger rival Chevron in one of the most memorable takeover battles in recent years. 

Not only did she manage to block Chevron, she got the deal done against the wishes of one of the company’s largest individual shareholders, the activist investor Carl Icahn. He, along with some other shareholders believed the deal was simply too expensive.  

Buying Anadarko saddled the company with a massive debt of more than $40bn.  

The timing couldn’t have been worse for Hollub. At the beginning of 2020, oil prices collapsed, thanks to a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, and a global pandemic that no-one could have predicted.  

As oil prices fell, Oxy’s share price tumbled.

The company took a series of emergency measures to shore up its financial position, including cutting capital expenditure and slashing the dividend on its common shares, the first payout cut since 1991.

To bolster its balance sheet further, Oxy recut its deal with Buffett, giving him shares in lieu of promised cash payments.  

With Occidental weakened, Icahn attacked, building up his stake in the company, and in a March interview, made no secret of the disdain in which he held the board.

“The company is terribly run. They had to cut the dividend. The oil price is again the match that ignited it. In another culture, the board, the people on the board, would have the dignity to resign.” 

Despite Hollub’s best attempts to prevent him, Icahn eventually succeeded in seizing four seats on the Oxy board. 

Today, the company’s share price is still well below what it was before the Anadarko deal.   

Back when the megadeal was done, the promise, in the company’s own words, was “to realise the full potential of the transaction while maintaining a strong balance sheet, investment grade credit rating and its current dividend”. 

That promise has now been solemnly shattered, and Hollub’s euphoria at sealing the deal, has surely been replaced by something else entirely.  

See how Occidental’s fairytale megadeal turned into a nightmare with this video from James Fontanella-Khan, of the FT’s Due Diligence team

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FT Due Diligence is a video channel analysing the fast-moving world of M&A, illuminating the trends behind the complex global transactions and how to unlock value from acquisition deals. The channel alternates between independent reporting from FT journalists and insight on global dealmaking from law firm Baker McKenzie.