Thursday, January 29, 2009

Chespeake Natural Gas Moving Forward

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp (nyse: CHK - news - people ) climbed more than 6 percent on Wednesday on news that the company plans to sell $1 billion in long-term debt to pay down bank debt, a move one research firm said showed the natural gas company had ample liquidity.

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma company announced a $500 million debt offering and on Wednesday a source familiar with the deal told Reuters the company had increased the note sale to $1 billion.

A company spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

Chesapeake ended 2008 with $1.75 billion in cash, below its target to have as much as $2.5 billion on hand, and said Tuesday it would take a $1.8 billion write-down on the value of its natural gas assets.

No comments: