Consol Energy Inc. has agreed to pay about $963.9 million for the 17 percent of the energy company's spinoff, CNX Gas Corp., it doesn't already own.
The announcement comes a week after Consol announced it was significantly beefing up its natural gas business through the $3.5 billion all-cash purchase of Dominion Resources Inc.'s Appalachian Basin natural gas exploration-production business.
Consol executives mentioned the company might repurchase the remaining 25.2 million CNX shares during a conference call last week with analysts to discuss the Dominion deal.
Analysts speculated that repurchasing the CNX shares sold to the public in July 2005 would make for a much smoother assimilation of the huge Dominion purchase.
The deal for CNX was announced following negotiations between Consol and CNX's largest outside shareholder, T. Rowe Price. That investment firm holds about 9.5 million CNX shares on behalf of clients, or about 37 percent of the oil and natural gas exploration-production company's stock not controlled by Consol.
The offer of $28.25 a share represents a 24 percent premium based on CNX's closing price on Friday of $30.80. Consol plans to begin its tender offer for the outstanding shares by May 5.
Consol spun off CNX in July 2005, but in early in 2008 announced it wanted to reacquire the shares sold off. That process was canceled in March 2008, when the two sides couldn't agree on a price.
