InterOil Founder Abandons Fight to Derail Exxon’s Takeover

[shx]

From Bloomberg:

September 20, 2016 — 5:45 PM CEST Updated on September 20, 2016 — 7:07 PM CEST

InterOil Corp. founder and ex-CEO Phil Mulacek said most of the natural gas explorer’s shareholders will vote in favor of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s acquisition on Wednesday, despite his two-month campaign to hold out for a better deal.

Mulacek, who founded InterOil in the 1990s and led it until he stepped down in 2013, objected to Exxon’s bid when it was announced in July, saying InterOil directors should have pressed for a better deal. During the final months of Mulacek’s tenure as chief executive officer, negotiations were underway with Exxon over an offer three times higher than the current transaction, he said on Tuesday. Mulacek’s 5.35 percent stake makes him InterOil’s third-largest investor.

“They’ll win the vote,” Mulacek said in a telephone interview from Singapore. “We’re dissenting. I was there when Exxon was offering a lot more. That was a very fair and equitable deal for both companies.”

Aaron Palash, a spokesman for InterOil with the firm Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer & Katcher, declined to comment. Alan Jeffers, an Exxon spokesman, also declined to comment.

[hirosan]

If Phil had listened to his shareholders then instead of chasing rainbows we could have had regular cashflow to fund exploration. How much we all see in hindsight.

Phil was adamant we would be selling gas through our modular site in 2012.
I am very pissed off to now find out they were offering 3 times the current amout.
Exxon look after their shareholders.
I suppose the worst thing is we always made up "rational" reasons why the excuses were valid when any normal person would have been out years ago like Soros.

[oliver.gump]

If Phil had listened to his shareholders then instead of chasing rainbows we could have had regular cashflow to fund exploration. How much we all see in hindsight. Phil was adamant we would be selling gas through our modular site in 2012. I am very pissed off to now find out they were offering 3 times the current amout. Exxon look after their shareholders. I suppose the worst thing is we always made up "rational" reasons why the excuses were valid when any normal person would have been out years ago like Soros.

Hirosan, Phil negotiated the first deal with Exxon and got the value to over three times what we are getting now. Then Hession took the role as CEO and in 18 days he announced the Total deal and this surprised everyone, especially Exxon who had no idea that their deal with Phil was going to be scuttled by Hession simply so that Hession could get the signing bonus and give the finger to Phil.

Phil has always had the shareholders intrests first and foremost.

Please dont project the behaviors of Hession and his flying circus onto Phil. That is totally undeserved.

We are where we are now because of Team Hession and a BOD that enabled them to do this.

[hirosan]

If Phil had listened to his shareholders then instead of chasing rainbows we could have had regular cashflow to fund exploration. How much we all see in hindsight. Phil was adamant we would be selling gas through our modular site in 2012. I am very pissed off to now find out they were offering 3 times the current amout. Exxon look after their shareholders. I suppose the worst thing is we always made up "rational" reasons why the excuses were valid when any normal person would have been out years ago like Soros.

Hirosan, Phil negotiated the first deal with Exxon and got the value to over three times what we are getting now. Then Hession took the role as CEO and in 18 days he announced the Total deal and this surprised everyone, especially Exxon who had no idea that their deal with Phil was going to be scuttled by Hession simply so that Hession could get the signing bonus and give the finger to Phil.

Phil has always had the shareholders intrests first and foremost.

Please dont project the behaviors of Hession and his flying circus onto Phil. That is totally undeserved.

We are where we are now because of Team Hession and a BOD that enabled them to do this.

if this was going on at the end of Phil time why was he kicked out. What was that deal? Was it a sell-off of part or all of a field? Why have we never heard this before?

[jft310]

Phil stated he is dissenting. That's not accepting the current deal !! Nice that we dissented and we find out Phil dissented also .

[ebster123]

JFT, I just spoke with your lawyer. He is a nice guy and he has put up a great fight for dissenters. Sadly, I missed the deadline due in part to not knowing the convoluted process that he feels Interoil should have notified all of about. I am not surprised about MH or the board. Good luck to you and Phil, stick it to them!!!

[admin]

Hirosan, Phil negotiated the first deal with Exxon and got the value to over three times what we are getting now. Then Hession took the role as CEO and in 18 days he announced the Total deal and this surprised everyone, especially Exxon who had no idea that their deal with Phil was going to be scuttled by Hession simply so that Hession could get the signing bonus and give the finger to Phil.

Phil has always had the shareholders intrests first and foremost.

Please dont project the behaviors of Hession and his flying circus onto Phil. That is totally undeserved.

We are where we are now because of Team Hession and a BOD that enabled them to do this.

1) Why was Phil kicked out if he achieved a deal that was 3x better than today's?

2) Why did Hession not accept that deal, why did the board not intervened if the first Exxon deal was obviously better?

[oliver.gump]

If Phil had listened to his shareholders then instead of chasing rainbows we could have had regular cashflow to fund exploration. How much we all see in hindsight. Phil was adamant we would be selling gas through our modular site in 2012. I am very pissed off to now find out they were offering 3 times the current amout. Exxon look after their shareholders. I suppose the worst thing is we always made up "rational" reasons why the excuses were valid when any normal person would have been out years ago like Soros.

Hirosan, Phil negotiated the first deal with Exxon and got the value to over three times what we are getting now. Then Hession took the role as CEO and in 18 days he announced the Total deal and this surprised everyone, especially Exxon who had no idea that their deal with Phil was going to be scuttled by Hession simply so that Hession could get the signing bonus and give the finger to Phil.

Phil has always had the shareholders intrests first and foremost.

Please dont project the behaviors of Hession and his flying circus onto Phil. That is totally undeserved.

We are where we are now because of Team Hession and a BOD that enabled them to do this.

if this was going on at the end of Phil time why was he kicked out. What was that deal? Was it a sell-off of part or all of a field? Why have we never heard this before?

The BOD had already decided that they wanted Hession as the new CEO. Roger Lewis, Ford Nicholson, and Gaylen Byker wanted to bring in the team from Woodside, and they paid Hession to sell the company in any way he could.



Phils deal with Exxon was for sell the gass offtake, and have them as a partner in some of the fields. It did NOT include selling everything. If Phils deal had been allowed to complete, we would have our product in the market by now.



I have mentioned this before both here and in Yazoo.

[oliver.gump]

Hirosan, Phil negotiated the first deal with Exxon and got the value to over three times what we are getting now. Then Hession took the role as CEO and in 18 days he announced the Total deal and this surprised everyone, especially Exxon who had no idea that their deal with Phil was going to be scuttled by Hession simply so that Hession could get the signing bonus and give the finger to Phil.

Phil has always had the shareholders intrests first and foremost.

Please dont project the behaviors of Hession and his flying circus onto Phil. That is totally undeserved.

We are where we are now because of Team Hession and a BOD that enabled them to do this.

1) Why was Phil kicked out if he achieved a deal that was 3x better than today's?

2) Why did Hession not accept that deal, why did the board not intervened if the first Exxon deal was obviously better?

Admin, Phil had been negotiating with Exxon for over a year when Byker, Nicholson, and Lewis decided that they wanted Hession as the CEO and that they wanted him to sell the company. During all of this process, Phil kept negotiating with Exxon, prior to Phils replacement as CEO he had reached a Memorandum of Understanding with Exxon on the deal, and 18 days after Phil was removed from IntrOil, Hession announced the Total SPA. We all know what the market thought of that.

The first Exxon agreement did not include a sale of the entire company. It was for gas offtake and a partnership in some of the fields. It transpires that because this does not equate to a sale, it was not what the BOD deemed acceptable.

Take a look at how Hession was contractually motivated to sell, first with $7M and then with $39M This will tell you which basket the BOD was putting its eggs into.

Hession was also incentivies with a $2m bonus to sign an alternate deal (anything othr than the Exxon one that Phil had almost completed), and so in 18 days he managed to get Total to sign a contract that scuttled the Exxon one.

None of this is secret, I have mentioned it before, Phil mentioned some of it in his conference call.

[AU74]

If Phil is right and then deal is a done deal, I'm glad I never wasted money protecting my shares with put options. Guess we will know for sure in the morning.