{"id":4657,"date":"2006-06-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T04:00:00","slug":"huston-exploration-seeking-alternative-to-jana-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/06\/2006\/huston-exploration-seeking-alternative-to-jana-bid.html","title":{"rendered":"Huston Exploration Seeking Alternative to Jana Bid"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"writeboardbody\">  WEST PALM BEACH, FL (HEDGECO.NET) &#8211; Jana Partners <span class=\"caps\">LLC<\/span>, a hedge fund worth approximately $5 billion, was turned down in their proposal to acquire the remaining interest of  87.7% in The Houston Exploration Co for approximately $1.6 billion in cash. According to the letter of intent, Houston Exploration shareholders would receive $62.00 per share in cash for every  Houston Exploration stock they hold.  <\/p>\n<p>    Jana had previously called upon Houston to maximize shareholder value through a $650 million share repurchase and the exploration of strategic alternatives, including the sale of the company. The    stock jumped after Jana Partners gave Houston Exploration a letter informing the energy company\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s board of an all-cash buyout offer of $62 per share, or about $1.8 billion. The shares rose $4.43,    or 8.1 percent, to $59.08 in midday trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.  <\/p>\n<p>    On 26 June 2006, two weeks after receiving the unsolicited takeover offer from the activist hedge fund operator, the Houston Exploration Co Board of Directors rejected <span class=    \"caps\">JANA<\/span> Partners <span class=\"caps\">LLC<\/span>\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s bid. The Houston based company has hired Lehman Brothers Inc. and the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &amp; Feld <span class=    \"caps\">LLP<\/span> to help them explore other alternatives.  <\/p>\n<p>    Jana Partners, which has offices in New York and San Francisco, in early June disclosed that it had amassed nearly 3.6 million common shares of Houston Exploration, or a stake of approximately    12.3 percent. The hedge fund operator earlier this year called on the oil and gas company to repurchase a substantial portion of the Houston company\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s outstanding shares.  <\/p>\n<p>    In the June 12 letter outlining the unsolicited takeover offer, Jana claimed that the tremendous value in the energy company\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s shares has been endangered partly by Houston Exploration    management\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s refusal to convince its board to pursue maximum value for shareholders.  <\/p>\n<p>    Despite the takeover buzz, shares of Houston Exploration remain well off a 52-week high of $71.47. But the stock has jumped from a 52-week low of $48.13.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>  Alex Akesson<br \/>  Contributing Writer<br \/>  HedgeCo.Net<br \/>  Email: Editor@hedgeco.net<\/p>\n<p>  HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!<\/p>\n<p>  <strong>Be sure to check out our sister sites. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hedgefundlounge.com\/\">www.hedgefundlounge.com<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hedgefundtools.com\/\">www.hedgefundtools.com,<\/a><\/strong>  and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hedgefundemployment.com\/\"><strong>www.hedgefundemployment.com.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WEST PALM BEACH, FL (HEDGECO.NET) &#8211; Jana Partners LLC, a hedge fund worth approximately $5 billion, was turned down in their proposal to acquire the remaining interest of 87.7% in The Houston Exploration Co for approximately $1.6 billion in cash. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hedgeco-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}