July 10,
2024
Diversified Energy
Company PLC
("Diversified" or the "Company")
Diversified to Acquire
Complementary, High-Quality, Low-Decline Producing
Assets
Accretive Acquisition of
Contiguous Operating Position
Diversified Energy Company PLC (LSE:DEC; NYSE:DEC)
("Diversified" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the
execution of a conditional purchase and sale agreement for the
acquisition of high-working interest, operated natural gas
properties and related facilities located within eastern Texas (the
"Assets") from Crescent Pass Energy (the "Seller") (the
"Acquisition").
The
Acquisition will be funded through a combination of the issuance of
approximately 2.4 million new U.S.
dollar-denominated ordinary shares direct to the Seller and a
senior secured bank facility supported by the acquired assets,
along with existing and expanded liquidity from the Company's
recently increased borrowing capacity. The ordinary shares will be
subject to a customary commercial lock-up agreement. The Company
expects to close the Acquisition in the third quarter of
2024.
Acquisition
Highlights
• Purchase price of $106 million before anticipated, customary purchase
price adjustments
◦ Estimated Net Purchase Price of
$100 million
◦ Anticipated close during the third
quarter of 2024
• Net purchase price represents a
PV-20 valuation
• Current net production of
38 MMcfepd (6 Mboepd)(a) with
low annual declines of ~9%(b)
◦ Complements industry-leading
corporate declines and capital intensity
◦ Significantly gas-weighted
production with ~92% gas volumes
◦ Attractively priced at $2,651 per flowing Mcfe
◦ Provides opportunities for
additional cost efficiencies
• Estimated NTM EBITDA of
~$26 million(c) representing a
3.8x purchase
multiple
◦ PDP Reserves of ~170 Bcfe (28 MMboe) with PV-10
of $155 million(b)
• Assets are contiguous with
Diversified's existing East Texas assets
◦
Proximity to existing assets creates immediate line of sight
to future operating efficiencies
◦
Includes ~170,000 acres of commercially attractive leasehold
in both East Texas and the Freestone Trend
Commenting on the Acquisition, CEO
Rusty Hutson, Jr. said:
"The target assets are a perfect fit with our existing East
Texas operations and offer meaningful opportunities for cost
efficiencies upon completion of the Acquisition. The accretive
transaction adds scale to our Central region footprint and remains
consistent with our strategy to focus on high-quality, low-decline
producing assets at attractive PV values where we can apply our
Smarter Asset Management approach to enhance margins and grow free
cash flow. The evolution of our funding sources, illustrated by the
use of direct equity issuance to the seller as a portion of the
consideration, highlights the importance of our recent NYSE listing
while providing additional financial flexibility. Our Company has a
long-standing, demonstrated track record of delivering value to
shareholders from our strategy of acquiring, optimizing, and
managing mature producing assets, making us the Right Company at the Right
Time."
Bolt-On Addition of Low-Decline PDP Assets
The Acquisition's estimated NTM
EBITDA of ~$26 million represents a
3.8x purchase multiple and reflects
attractive valuations of PV-20 and
$2,651 per flowing
Mcfe, well within the Company's target valuation range.
The Assets include 827 net operated PDP wells and are expected to add
38 MMcfepd (6
Mboepd) of production (+5% vs 1Q2024
reported of 723 MMcfepd) and ~170 Bcfe reserves with a PV-10 of $155 million. Additionally, the production profile of
the Assets are highly complementary to the Company's existing
portfolio and operational strategy, with low annual production
declines of ~9% per year that result in an
unchanged consolidated decline rate, pro forma for the Acquisition.
The Assets also include over 500 miles of owned pipelines and
associated compression facilities and feature additional
undeveloped acreage that presents potential upside opportunities in
line with Diversified's demonstrated ability to unlock value on
non-core assets.
The Assets are in close proximity to
the Company's previously acquired East Texas assets and provide
opportunities to realize synergies attributable to operating scale
and asset density.
The Acquisition constitutes a Class
2 transaction for the purposes of the FCA Listing Rules, and this
announcement is made in accordance with the Company's disclosure
obligations pursuant to Chapter 10 of the FCA Listing
Rules.
Footnotes:
(a)
|
Current production based on
estimated average daily production for August 2024; Estimate based
on historical performance and engineered type curves for the
Assets
|
(b)
|
Estimated annual rate of production
declines and PDP reserves values (including volumes, PV-10 and
approximate PV value) calculated using historical production data,
asset-specific type curves and an effective date of May 1, 2024 and
based on the 4-year NYMEX strip at June 18, 2024 with terminal
price assumptions of $3.94/MMBtu and $68.06/Bbl for natural gas and
oil, respectively. For more information, please refer to "Use of
Non-IFRS Measures"
|
(c)
|
Based on engineering reserves
assumptions using historical cost assumptions and NYMEX strip as of
June 18, 2024 for the 12 month period ended July 31, 2025; does not
include the impact of any projected or anticipated synergies that
may occur subsequent to acquisition Purchase price multiple
based on Net Purchase Price and Acquisition's estimated Next Twelve
Months (NTM) Adjusted EBITDA (unhedged)
|
For
Company-specific items, refer also to the Glossary of Terms and/or
Alternative Performance Measures found in the Company's
Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023
filed with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission.
For further information, please
contact:
Diversified Energy Company PLC
|
+1
973 856 2757
|
Doug Kris
|
dkris@dgoc.com
|
Senior Vice President, Investor
Relations & Corporate Communications
|
www.div.energy
|
|
|
FTI
Consulting
|
dec@fticonsulting.com
|
U.S. & UK Financial Public
Relations
|
|
About Diversified Energy Company PLC
Diversified is a leading publicly
traded energy company focused on natural gas and liquids
production, transport, marketing, and well retirement. Through our
differentiated strategy, we acquire existing, long-life assets and
invest in them to improve environmental and operational performance
until retiring those assets in a safe and environmentally secure
manner. Recognized by ratings agencies and organizations for our
sustainability leadership, this solutions-oriented, stewardship
approach makes Diversified the Right Company at the Right Time to
responsibly produce energy, deliver reliable free cash flow, and
generate shareholder value.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains
forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These forward-looking
statements, which contain the words "anticipate", "believe",
"intend", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "seek", "continue",
"aim", "target", "projected", "plan", "goal", "achieve",
"opportunity" and words of similar meaning, reflect the Company's
beliefs and expectations and are based on numerous assumptions
regarding the Company's present and future business strategies and
the environment the Company will operate in and are subject to
risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially. No representation is made that any of these statements
or forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be
achieved. Expected benefits of the Acquisition may not be realized
and the Acquisition may not close on the terms described in this
release at all. Forward-looking statements involve inherent known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies because they
relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not
occur in the future and may cause the actual results, performance
or achievements of the Company to be materially different from
those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Many
of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond
the Company's ability to control or estimate precisely, including
the risk factors described in the "Risk Factors" section in the
Company's Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended December
31, 2023, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission. The pro forma financial information in this
announcement is for informational purposes only, is not a
projection of our future financial performance, and should not be
considered indicative of actual results should the Acquisition be
consummated. Forward-looking statements speak only as of their date
and neither the Company nor any of its directors, officers,
employees, agents, affiliates or advisers expressly disclaim any
obligation to supplement, amend, update or revise any of the
forward-looking statements made herein, except where it would be
required to do so under applicable law. As a result, you are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking
statements.
Use
of Non-IFRS Measures
Certain key operating metrics that
are not defined under IFRS (alternative performance measures) are
included in this announcement. These non-IFRS measures are used by
us to monitor the underlying business performance of the Company
from period to period and to facilitate comparison with our peers.
Since not all companies calculate these or other non-IFRS metrics
in the same way, the manner in which we have chosen to calculate
the non-IFRS metrics presented herein may not be compatible with
similarly defined terms used by other companies. The non-IFRS
metrics should not be considered in isolation of, or viewed as
substitutes for, the financial information prepared in accordance
with IFRS. Certain of the key operating metrics are based on
information derived from our regularly maintained records and
accounting and operating systems.
Adjusted EBITDA
As used herein, EBITDA represents
earnings before interest, taxes, depletion, depreciation and
amortization. Adjusted EBITDA includes adjusting for items that are
not comparable period-over-period, namely, accretion of asset
retirement obligation, other (income) expense, loss on joint and
working interest owners receivable, (gain) loss on bargain
purchases, (gain) loss on fair value adjustments of unsettled
financial instruments, (gain) loss on natural gas and oil property
and equipment, costs associated with acquisitions, other adjusting
costs, non-cash equity compensation, (gain) loss on foreign
currency hedge, net (gain) loss on interest rate swaps and items of
a similar nature.
Adjusted EBITDA should not be
considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating profit or
loss, net income or loss, or cash flows provided by operating,
investing, and financing activities. However, we believe such a
measure is useful to an investor in evaluating our financial
performance because it (1) is widely used by investors in the
natural gas and oil industry as an indicator of underlying
business performance; (2) helps investors to more meaningfully evaluate
and compare the results of our operations from period to period by
removing the often-volatile revenue impact of changes in the fair
value of derivative instruments prior to settlement; (3) is used in
the calculation of a key metric in one of our Credit Facility
financial covenants; and (4) is used by us as a performance measure
in determining executive compensation. We are unable to provide a
quantitative reconciliation of forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA to
the most directly comparable forward-looking IFRS measure because
the items necessary to estimate such forward-looking IFRS measure
are not accessible or estimable at this time without unreasonable
efforts. The reconciling items in future periods could be
significant.
PV-10
PV-10 is a non-IFRS financial measure
and generally differs from Standardized Measure, the most directly
comparable IFRS measure, because it does not include the effects of
income taxes on future net cash flows. While the Standardized
Measure is free cash dependent on the unique tax situation of each
company, PV-10 is based on a pricing methodology and discount
factors that are consistent for all companies. In this
announcement, PV-10 is calculated using NYMEX pricing. It is not
practicable to reconcile PV-10 using NYMEX pricing to standardized
measure in accordance with IFRS at this time. Investors should be
cautioned that neither PV-10 nor the Standardized Measure
represents an estimate of the fair market value of proved
reserves.