The battle for what was once the integrated oil & gas company Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) took another turn this morning after the company said it has signed a deal to sell its 90% interest in a Russian oil company to Russia’s Lukoil for a total of $2.05 billion. Hess anticipates net proceeds after taxes of $1.8 billion.
So far this year the company has closed a New Jersey refinery, sold assets in the Eagle Ford shale play, and closed the sale of a field in the Caspian Sea. Hess said total proceeds from its asset sales now total about $3.4 billion.
Hess is currently in a proxy battle with hedge fund Elliott Management, which launched a campaign earlier this year to seat five new board members and proposed its own plan to break up Hess. The company responded by presenting its own plan to shed assets with the aim of becoming a pure-play exploration & production company and offered its own slate of six new directors for shareholder approval at the company’s stockholders’ meeting in May.
Shares of Hess are up 2.9% at $73.65 after posting a new 52-week high of $74.05 earlier today. The 52-week low is $39.67.
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