Activist investor, Jana Partners has just purchased 5% stake in EQT Corp.
The company said it is trying block the U.S. oil and gas company’s proposed acquisition of Rice Energy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Jana Partners wants EQT to fully separate its pipeline operations instead of buying Rice Energy, the paper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
EQT said in June it would buy Rice Energy, a fellow Appalachian gas and oil firm, for $6.7 billion to become the largest U.S. natural gas producer.
Jana’s goal is to make EQT a pure exploration-and-production company, the WSJ report said.
EQT and Rice Energy were not immediately available for comment.
To put things into context, Jana Partners had been buying EQT shares before the deal was announced and was “blindsided” by the move, the Journal reported, citing the people.
Jana said it is a value-oriented, event-driven manager that invests, long and short, in companies undergoing or expected to undergo change.
JANA Partners LLC is an investment manager specializing in event-driven investing founded in 2001 by Barry Rosenstein, JANA’s Managing Partner and Co-Portfolio Manager. JANA typically applies a fundamental value discipline to identify undervalued companies that have one or more specific catalysts to unlock value. In certain cases, JANA can be the instrument for value creation by becoming an actively engaged shareholder. JANA invests both long and short and across the capital structure including equity and debt.
