By Tony Cox
June 10 (Bloomberg) -- XTO Energy Corp. agreed to acquire closely held Hunt Petroleum Corp., the oil company created by the late billionaire H.L. Hunt, for about $4.2 billion, gaining wells that will boost output amid record prices.
Owners of Hunt will get $2.6 billion in cash and about $1.6 billion in XTO stock, the Fort Worth, Texas-based buyer said today in a statement. Hunt family heirs were embroiled in a fight over the trusts that owned Hunt Petroleum after the founder's oldest daughter, Margaret Hunt Hill, died last year, the Dallas Morning News reported in February.
Most of Hunt Petroleum's producing assets extend across East Texas and Louisiana, where XTO is a leading natural-gas producer, according to the statement. XTO raised its forecast for production growth this year to as much as 30 percent, based on the Hunt transaction and a $1.85 billion asset purchase announced last month.
``With the current outlook for commodity prices and our development plan, we have facilitated a history-making deal for XTO which should generate over $1.2 billion in cash flow next year,'' Chief Executive Officer Bob Simpson said in the statement.
XTO rose $2.28, or 3.4 percent, to $70 at 9:03 a.m. New York time in trading before U.S. exchanges opened. Before today, the stock had jumped 32 percent this year.
Original Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aEFjD7jciWok&refer=news
