Linn Energy bonds, shares drop in early dealings as Berry appears to waver on takeover deal

By Paul Deckelman

New York, Oct. 25 - Linn Energy, LLC's 7¾% notes due 2021 were seen having slid nearly 1¾ points in early dealings on Friday on relatively busy round-lot volume of over $7 million.

The bonds were being quoted just under the 102 bid level.

The Houston-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company's Nasdaq-traded shares meantime were down $1.11, or 3.96%, at $27.02 at 10:45 a.m. ET. Volume of 1.59 million shares was a little below the usual full-day volume of about 1.9 million shares.

A trader said that Berry Petroleum Co. said late Thursday in a regulatory filing that its pending $2.12 billion takeover by Linn Energy parent LinnCo LLC - the subject of an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission - won't be completed by the originally expected Oct. 31.

And Denver-based Berry also said in the filing that after that point, "either party can walk away from the transaction."

"There can be no assurances as to whether the parties will agree to extend the end date or that the parties will refrain from exercising their rights to terminate the merger agreement," Berry said.

There was no immediate response from Linn.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.