Freeport-McMoRan Won't Take Oil-and-Gas Business Public
May 20 2016 - 6:20PM
Dow Jones News
Freeport-McMoRan Inc., hard hit by the commodities market rout,
has formally canceled plans to take its oil-and-gas business
public.
The largest U.S. mining company by market value, which had filed
last year to take Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas Inc. public,
previously had indicated it was considering a possible sale or
joint venture for the business that helped push it to a $4.2
billion loss in the latest quarter.
At the same time it posted the loss, Freeport in April said it
would slash about 25% of its oil-and-gas workforce in a
restructuring.
The formal withdrawal of the initial public offering comes just
two weeks after the company, which has been under pressure to cut
its debt burden, said it had agreed to sell its stake in an African
copper operation to China Molybdenum Co., a mining-and-processing
concern, for $2.64 billion.
The company agreed in October with activist investor Carl Icahn,
one of Freeport's biggest shareholders, on a number of issues.
He had pushed the company to cut its debt, spending and
executive compensation. Under the deal, two Icahn affiliates were
added to Freeport's board. Freeport-McMoRan's debt stood at $20.8
billion at the end of the first quarter.
Mr. Icahn disclosed his 8.5% stake in the miner last summer.
The Phoenix-based miner, which made an ill-timed bet on oil and
gas in 2013, has been aggressively selling assets and slashing
spending, including suspending dividend payouts and laying off
workers in the past year.
Its longtime chairman, James R. Moffett, an oil wildcatter who
helped build Freeport into a commodities powerhouse, agreed to step
down last year.
Freeport's shares, down 47% over the past 12 months, edged down
to $11.04 in after-hours trading.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2016 18:05 ET (22:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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