Blackstone Shares Dive 5% As It Reportedly Weighs $5B-Plus Sale of Beacon Offshore
Synopsis
As per Bloomberg News report the sale could fetch more than $5 billion and Blackstone is talking to investment banks about bringing the Houston-based company to market as soon as the first quarter.
- Beacon is among the last few remaining legacy fossil fuel assets under Blackstone, which has exited most of its oil and gas portfolio in recent years.
- Beacon is expected to attract interest from large producers with operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
- No final decision has been made, and Blackstone could opt against pursuing a sale, the report said.
Blackstone (BX) shares dived on Tuesday as it is reportedly in the early stages of weighing a sale of Gulf of Mexico driller Beacon Offshore Energy, which it has owned for about a decade.
According to a Bloomberg News report, the sale could fetch more than $5 billion. The alternative asset manager is talking to investment banks about bringing the Houston-based company to market as soon as the first quarter, it said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Beacon is expected to attract interest from large producers with operations in the Gulf of Mexico, the report said.
About Beacon
Beacon is among the last few remaining legacy fossil fuel assets under Blackstone, which has exited most of its oil and gas portfolio in recent years. Its latest sale in the oil and gas portfolio was of Olympus Energy last year.
Blackstone formed Beacon in early 2016 with a focus on acquiring, exploring, and developing upstream oil and gas properties in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. At present, Blackstone holds interest in 68 deepwater leases across nearly 400,000 gross acres, according to the company.
Beacon’s biggest wells, which started producing in the second half of last year, are part of the Shenandoah prospect, which Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s Anadarko discovered in 2009 but left behind for quicker, easier output onshore at the start of the shale boom, the report said.
How Did Stocktwits Users React?
Retail sentiment around BX stock trended in ‘bearish’ territory amid ‘normal’ message volume.
Shares of BX have fallen nearly 1% year-to-date.
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