Kerr-McGee agrees to buy Westport

Wednesday, April 7, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

Kerr-McGee Corp. today agreed to buy Westport Resources Corp. for $2.49 billion in stock, the biggest acquisition in its 75-year history, to boost natural-gas output in Texas and the Rocky Mountains as prices and demand increase. Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee will exchange 0.71 of a share for each share of Denver-based Westport, the companies said in a statement. That's worth $36.57 per Westport share, an 11 percent premium, at yesterday's closing prices. Kerr-McGee plans to issue 49.4 million shares and assume about $900 million in debt.

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