Mining giant BHP Billiton said on Sunday it had secured its $12.1 billion takeover of US energy firm Petrohawk Energy Corp and hoped to legally formalise the tie-up "as promptly as practicable". BHP said it had acquired "and expects to promptly pay for" 97.4 percent of Petrohawk's outstanding shares in a deal worth $15.1 billion, including the energy company's debt.
The $38.75-a-share takeover - a 65 percent premium on the value of Petrohawk shares at the time of the July offer - will give BHP, the world's largest miner, access to huge assets in the lucrative US shale gas market.
It follows BHP's purchase earlier this year of US-based Chesapeake Energy Corp's shale gas holdings in the state of Arkansas, along with some pipeline assets, for $4.75 billion, as it seeks to diversify beyond mining and minerals. BHP said Petrohawk would become an indirect wholly owned subsidiary.
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