Hess shareholders approve merger with Chevron

Yahoo Finance

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Hess Corp on Tuesday approved the company’s merger with market-leading U.S. oil company Chevron for $53 billion, according to preliminary voting results.

The merger required a supermajority vote to approve the transaction with a majority of the 308 million Hess shares outstanding. The company did not immediately release the vote count.

Chevron proposed to acquire Hess last October, seeking to gain a foothold in Guyana’s lucrative offshore oil fields. The deal was held up by an ongoing review by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and overshadowed by an arbitration lawsuit filed by Hess’ partner in Guyana, Exxon Mobil and CNOOC.

The result was a victory for Hess CEO John Hess and a silencing of claims from some shareholders who were seeking additional compensation for the delay in closing the sale. Exxon’s arbitration may postpone the closing of the transaction until 2025.

“Assuming Chevron wins the Exxon arbitration or finds a settlement, the deal will go through,” said Mark Kelly, an analyst at financial firm MKP Advisors.

(This story has been updated to remove the additional word “some” in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Sabrina Valle)

Main image (Source: Reuters)