Exxon Mobil buying buys Pioneer Natural in $59.5 billion deal with energy prices surging
By Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press on October 11, 2023.
Exxon Mobil is buying Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion, its largest buyout since acquiring Mobil two decades ago, creating a colossal fracking operator in West Texas. The transaction’s value, including debt, is about $64.5 billion. Pioneer shareholders will receive 2.3234 shares of Exxon Mobil for each Pioneer share they own. Exxon purchased XTO Energy in 2009 for approximately $36 billion. In the late 1990s, the merger between Exxon and Mobil totaled more than $80 billion. The deal with Pioneer Natural gives Exxon Mobil more access to the Permian basin, which runs through parts of Texas and New Mexico. Exxon has been flush with cash. The company posted record annual profits in 2022, bringing in $55.7 billion in annual profits, exceeding its previous record of $45.22 billion in 2008. Exxon has been using some of that cash on acquisitions. In July the company announced that it was buying pipeline operator Denbury in an all-stock deal valued at $4.9 billion. Pioneer Natural has been making similar moves. In 2020 the company said it was buying Parsley Energy in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $4.5 billion. It then purchased DoublePoint Energy in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $6.4 billion in 2021. Both companies’ boards have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of next year. It still needs approval from Pioneer shareholders. 10-9
