History
Nexen bought EnCana's North Sea business for US$2.1 billion in 2004, financed it with bank debt, sold its chemicals arm, and by 2013 was removing its securities from listing and registration.
2003-2004: Listing and the North Sea bet
The record opens in late 2003 with housekeeping. On 29 October 2003 the New York Stock Exchange certified Nexen's securities for listing, clearing them to begin trading. Notices that securities were to be removed from listing and registration followed on 18 December 2003 and 23 February 2004. The beats do not say which securities these covered.
The defining move came in November 2004. Nexen agreed to buy EnCana (U.K.) Limited, EnCana's North Sea business, for US$2.1 billion in cash. The prize was a 43.2% interest in the Buzzard field, with start-up expected by the end of 2006 and about 80,000 barrels a day net to Nexen at full production, according to Nexen. It also brought interests in the Scott and Telford fields, producing about 19,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Nexen put up a US$200 million deposit and lined up bridge loans (short-term loans to be replaced later) from Toronto-Dominion Bank. It planned to repay the debt from cash flow and about Cdn$1.5 billion from selling mature assets. The purchase closed in December 2004, funded partly by a US$1.5 billion bridge loan and a US$500 million development facility.
2005-2007: Paying for the deal
The next phase was about refinancing. In March 2005 Nexen sold about US$1.04 billion of notes: US$250 million at 5.20% due 2015 and US$790 million at 5.875% due 2035. The filing did not give the purpose, though the size fits the North Sea borrowing. In July 2005 it signed a new unsecured revolving credit agreement of up to US$2 billion, maturing in July 2010. An initial US$780 million draw repaid and cancelled three earlier credit agreements, and the deal capped long-term debt at 3.5 times EBITDA (a measure of operating earnings).
In August 2005 Nexen sold its sodium chlorate and chlor-alkali chemicals business to Canexus Limited Partnership, valued at about $1 billion. Canexus Income Fund's public offering raised $300 million, and Nexen kept a 63.5% interest through exchangeable units. It said it had not decided whether or when to sell that holding, and the later records do not settle the question. In May 2007 Nexen raised a further US$1.5 billion of senior notes, US$1.25 billion at 6.40% due 2037 and US$250 million at 5.65% due 2017, mostly to repay bank debt.
2008-2010: Funding the capital program
The record is quiet in 2008 apart from an amended shareholder rights plan that needed ratifying by the 2011 annual meeting. In December 2008 Nexen announced a capital program. In July 2009 it priced and completed a US$1 billion note sale: US$300 million at 6.20% due 2019 and US$700 million at 7.50% due 2039. Proceeds went to general purposes, including repaying the revolving bank facility and funding that program. In June 2010 the revolving credit agreement was amended and restated, with maturity extended from July 2012 to July 2014 and a new lender covenant added. The Buzzard start-up and Long Lake oil sands project outcomes remained unreported in the beats.
2013: Leaving the exchanges
The record then jumps to 2013. In February and March, Nexen's exchange filed to remove a class of its securities from listing, and on 8 March Nexen terminated the registration of a class of securities, ending its reporting obligation for them. The pattern repeated on 28 March and 23 May 2013. The beats do not give the reasons or name the classes. As of the latest beat, 23 May 2013, Nexen had ended registration of a class of its securities and its reporting obligation for them.
Written from the 15 story beats below (2003 to 23 May 2013), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.