ATS Inc., a subsidiary of Woodside Petroleum Ltd. of Australia, announced Thursday that the company has formally offered an all-cash $23.00 per share offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Energy Partners, Ltd., (EPL) of New Orleans.
Energy Partners has advised its stockholders to take no action at this time in response to the unsolicited proposal from ATS.
The offer is scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, New York time, on September 28, 2006, unless extended. The unsolicited proposal is conditional on the termination of EPL's pending merger with Stone Energy Corporation, which was announced on June 23, 2006. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. is Australia’s largest publicly-listed oil and gas company. The company is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of approximately $21 billion. Founded in 1998, EPL is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company based in New Orleans, La. The company's operations are focused along the Gulf Coast, both onshore in south Louisiana and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.