Western Gas Resources ended its reign Wednesday as Colorado’s largest independent energy company after shareholders approved a $4.8 billion acquisition by Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum.
The deal is the biggest in an $18 billion corporate buyout spree over the past two years that has seen Colorado’s largest oil and gas companies get swallowed by out-of-state suitors.
In a related transaction, Anadarko also has acquired Oklahoma-based Kerr-McGee, a major Colorado oil and gas producer, for $16.4 million. The combined transactions make Anadarko one of the nation’s biggest independent energy firms.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating possible illegal insider trading in advance of Anadarko’s June 23 announcement that it planned to acquire the two companies.
The final page in Western Gas Resources’ 25-year history came Wednesday in a meeting room at the Westin Tabor Center where somber employees assembled to hear the predicted approval by shareholders of the Anadarko deal.
Outgoing Western Gas chief executive Peter Dea described the event as “bittersweet.”
One Western Gas employee, who declined to identify herself, said there is concern among workers about how many could be laid off or asked to transfer to Houston.
“Don’t get me started – I might start crying,” said the nine-year veteran employee. “This has been a nice place to work because we’ve never had a large- company mentality. Now, everything we’ve built up is going to get torn down.”
Anadarko chief executive Jim Hackett said most of the Western Gas employees who work in the company’s natural-gas- gathering and -processing segment will be retained as Anadarko considers spinning off the unit in a master-limited-partnership transaction.
He said Anadarko doesn’t yet know how many of Western’s corporate staff will be terminated.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
