Diversified Energy Company PLC (LSE:DEC; NYSE:DEC) (“Diversified”
or the “Company”) announces the close of its previously announced
acquisition of operated natural gas properties and related
midstream pipeline infrastructure located within Virginia, West
Virginia, and Alabama (the “Assets”) from Summit Natural Resources
(the “Seller”) (together with the assets, the “Acquisition”).
Additionally, the Company closed on an asset
backed securitization (“ABS”) refinancing, creating the ABS X note.
Diversified will use the proceeds from the ABS transaction to
consolidate and repay the outstanding principal of the previously
issued ABS I, ABS II and Term Loan I, utilizing those assets plus
additional Summit Natural Resources assets as collateral in the new
structure. The ABS transaction will also benefit from an improved
hedging profile, creating enhanced margins and cash flows.
Additional proceeds from this refinancing will be used to reduce
outstanding borrowings and for general corporate purposes.
Acquisition Highlights
- Acquisition net purchase price of ~$42 million
- Current net production of ~12 MMcfepd (2 Mboepd)(a)
- PDP Reserves of 65 Bcfe (11 MMBoe) with PV-10 of ~$55
million(b)
- Purchase price equivalent of ~PV-16(b)
- Estimated 2025 Adjusted EBITDA of ~$12 million(b)(c)
- Existing Coal Mine Methane (“CMM”) volumes with opportunities
to extend future production and additional environmental
credits
- Appalachian assets overlap existing
operations providing synergies for increased cash margins
- Strategic midstream pipeline assets
facilitate capability to enhance commodity realizations
- Recent improvements to commodity
prices have further-enhanced the transaction economics
ABS Issuance Highlights
- $530 million ABS X note structured
as a master trust
- Strategic hedges expected to add
~40% ($38 million) to EBITDA(c) of refinanced assets
- Significantly oversubscribed (6.5x)
with orders from 20 unique investors, reflecting the cash flow
quality of our assets and Diversified’s reputation as a responsible
issuer
- Investment grade rated notes with
blended fixed coupon of approximately 6.4% in A tranche
- Improved amortization expected to
generate increased cash flows
Sustainability-Linked
Sustainable Fitch has again-provided a Second Party Opinion that
the instrument's Key Performance Indicators (the "KPIs") align with
the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) framework for
sustainability-linked bond principles, highlighting Diversified's
commitment to aligning its financing with the Company's overall
sustainability strategy.
*ratings established by Fitch Ratings,Inc.
Commenting on the Acquisition and ABS
transaction, CEO Rusty Hutson, Jr. said:
“We are excited to announce the completion of
another acquisition of high-quality, bolt-on assets that are
uniquely positioned to benefit from the operational expertise of
our field teams, capture higher prices with exposure to premium
Transco Zone 5 pricing, and are poised to provide additional
revenues from the sale of incremental environmental credits with
our growth in the production of coal mine methane. We continue to
believe there is a sizeable backlog of organic Coal Mine Methane
cash flow growth within our current Appalachian portfolio, and this
acquisition highlights our ability to leverage existing
capabilities, assets, and intellectual capital to grow this segment
of our revenue stream.
Brad Gray, CFO further commented:
Supported by a growing base of loyal credit
investors, we are now a seasoned programmatic issuer, and this ABS
transaction achieved record demand with a significant amount of
interest from a large group of new participants. This strategic
refinance improves asset level cash flow with higher hedge prices
and a more refined amortization schedule. Our increasing
operational scale, track record of stable asset performance, and
strength of our business enable us to attract reliable sources of
capital and achieve a lower overall cost of capital. This outcome
is a testament to how the financial markets value Diversified’s
reliable production and consistent cash flows.”
On the Securitization: Barclays Capital, Inc.
acted as Sole Structuring Advisor and Placement Agent, Mizuho
Securities USA LLC, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., and Legado
Capital Advisors, LLC acted as Co-Placement Agents.
Detring Energy Advisors acted as the sell side
advisor to Summit Natural Resources.
Footnotes:
(a) |
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Current production based on estimated average daily production for
January 2025; Estimate based on historical performance and
engineered type curves for the Assets. |
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(b) |
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Based on engineering reserves assumptions using historical cost
assumptions and NYMEX strip as of October 28, 2024 for the
twelve months ended December 31, 2025. |
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(c) |
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Adjusted EBITDA is a Non-IFRS measure. As presented for the ABS
transaction, represents the twelve months ended February 28, 2026.
for more information, see “Use of Non-IFRS Measures”. |
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For Company-specific items, refer also to the
Glossary of Terms and/or Alternative Performance Measures found in
the Company’s 2024 Interim Report dated June 30, 2024 and Form 20-F
for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission.
For further information, please contact:
Diversified Energy
Company PLC |
+1 973 856 2757 |
Doug Kris |
dkris@dgoc.com |
Senior Vice President, Investor
Relations & Corporate Communications |
www.div.energy |
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FTI
Consulting |
dec@fticonsulting.com |
U.S. & UK Financial Public
Relations |
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About Diversified Energy Company
PLC
Diversified is a leading publicly traded energy
company focused on natural gas and liquids production, transport,
marketing, and well retirement. Through our unique and
differentiated strategy, we acquire existing, long-life assets and
invest in them to improve environmental and operational performance
until retiring those assets in a safe and environmentally secure
manner. Recognized by ratings agencies and organizations for our
sustainability leadership, this solutions-oriented, stewardship
approach makes Diversified the Right Company at the Right Time to
responsibly produce energy, deliver reliable free cash flow, and
generate shareholder value.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking
statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These forward-looking statements,
which contain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend",
"estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "seek", "continue", "aim",
"target", "projected", "plan", "goal", "achieve", “opportunity” and
words of similar meaning, reflect the Company's beliefs and
expectations and are based on numerous assumptions regarding the
Company's present and future business strategies and the
environment the Company will operate in and are subject to risks
and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially. No representation is made that any of these statements
or forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be
achieved. Expected benefits of the Acquisition and the ABS
transaction, including the impact of the Acquisition and the ABS
transaction on the company’s cash flows and cash margins, and the
Company’s production of coal mine methane, may not be realized.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and contingencies because they relate to
events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the
future and may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of the Company to be materially different from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Many of
these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond the
Company's ability to control or estimate precisely, including the
risk factors described in the "Risk Factors" section in the
Company's Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended December
31, 2023 and the risk factors described in Exhibit 99.2 to the
Company’s Form 6-K furnished with the SEC on January 27, 2025, in
each case filed with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of their date
and neither the Company nor any of its directors, officers,
employees, agents, affiliates or advisers expressly disclaim any
obligation to supplement, amend, update or revise any of the
forward-looking statements made herein, except where it would be
required to do so under applicable law. As a result, you are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking
statements.
Use of Non-IFRS Measures
Certain key operating metrics that are not
defined under IFRS (alternative performance measures) are included
in this announcement. These non-IFRS measures are used by us to
monitor the underlying business performance of the Company from
period to period and to facilitate comparison with our peers. Since
not all companies calculate these or other non-IFRS metrics in the
same way, the manner in which we have chosen to calculate the
non-IFRS metrics presented herein may not be compatible with
similarly defined terms used by other companies. The non-IFRS
metrics should not be considered in isolation of, or viewed as
substitutes for, the financial information prepared in accordance
with IFRS. Certain of the key operating metrics are based on
information derived from our regularly maintained records and
accounting and operating systems.
Adjusted EBITDA
As used herein, EBITDA represents earnings
before interest, taxes, depletion, depreciation and amortization.
Adjusted EBITDA includes adjusting for items that are not
comparable period-over-period, namely, accretion of asset
retirement obligation, other (income) expense, loss on joint and
working interest owners receivable, (gain) loss on bargain
purchases, (gain) loss on fair value adjustments of unsettled
financial instruments, (gain) loss on natural gas and oil property
and equipment, costs associated with acquisitions, other adjusting
costs, non-cash equity compensation, (gain) loss on foreign
currency hedge, net (gain) loss on interest rate swaps and items of
a similar nature.
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be
considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating profit or
loss, net income or loss, or cash flows provided by operating,
investing, and financing activities. However, we believe such
measures are is useful to an investor in evaluating our financial
performance because they (1) are widely used by investors in the
natural gas and oil industry as an indicator of underlying business
performance; (2) help investors to more meaningfully evaluate and
compare the results of our operations from period to period by
removing the often-volatile revenue impact of changes in the fair
value of derivative instruments prior to settlement; (3) with
respect to Adjusted EBITDA, is used in the calculation of a key
metric in one of our Credit Facility financial covenants; and (4)
are used by us as a performance measure in determining executive
compensation. We are unable to provide a quantitative
reconciliation of forward-looking EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to the
most directly comparable forward-looking IFRS measures because the
items necessary to estimate such forward-looking IFRS measures are
not accessible or estimable at this time without unreasonable
efforts. The reconciling items in future periods could be
significant.
PV-10
PV-10 is a non-IFRS financial measure and
generally differs from Standardized Measure, the most directly
comparable IFRS measure, because it does not include the effects of
income taxes on future net cash flows. While the Standardized
Measure is free cash dependent on the unique tax situation of each
company, PV-10 is based on a pricing methodology and discount
factors that are consistent for all companies. In this
announcement, PV-10 is calculated using NYMEX pricing. It is not
practicable to reconcile PV-10 using NYMEX pricing to standardized
measure in accordance with IFRS at this time. Investors should be
cautioned that neither PV-10 nor the Standardized Measure
represents an estimate of the fair market value of proved
reserves.
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