- EQT Corp. (EQT +4.4%) opens with strong gains after hedge fund firm D.E. Shaw sends a letter to the company's board outlining a plan it says could unlock $8B of value for shareholders, confirming last night's WSJ report.
- 4% shareholder Shaw is urging the company to split into separate production and midstream units after completing its purchase of Rice Energy (RICE +4.4%), and wants it to merge its pipeline business with the Rice Midstream Partners (RMP +0.1%) MLP.
- In response, EQT says it will establish a committee of independent board members to explore options, will no longer use production volume as a performance metric for long-term compensation - addressing a concern that the metric has encouraged volume growth over efficiency - and will unveil a plan in Q1 2018, before its next annual meeting.
- Both Shaw and Jana Partners are now calling for EQT to split in two but while the deal to buy Rice is opposed by Jana, Shaw says in its letter that EQT should continue with the deal and then split the businesses.
- Now read: JANA's Activism Unlikely To Derail EQT's Acquisition Of Rice Energy
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