February 28, 2025
Diversified Energy
Company PLC
("Diversified" or the "Company")
Diversified Closes
Summit Natural Resources Acquisition and Tenth Asset Backed
Securitization Issuance
Bolt-on Acquisition Increases
Coal Mine Methane Environmental Credit Cash Flow, Expands Midstream
Infrastructure, and Enhances Southern Appalachia
Prices
Strategic Refinance
Incorporates 40% Improvement in Cash Flow from New Hedges and an
Innovative Master Trust Structure
Solidifies Diversified as the
Leading Issuer of Oil & Gas Securitizations
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)
|
Current production based on
estimated average daily production for January
2025; Estimate based on historical performance and
engineered type curves for the Assets.
|
(b)
|
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.
|
(c)
|
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".
|
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
|
|
|
FTI
Consulting
|
dec@fticonsulting.com
|
U.S. & UK Financial Public
Relations
|
|
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.