Deals
Falling Knife Slashes Shale Dealmaking as Buyers Eye Bottom
This article is for subscribers only.
When Whiting Petroleum Corp. put itself up for sale this month, the oil industry appeared on the brink of a deal surge that would dramatically redraw the energy landscape.
Instead, Whiting decided it was better off selling shares and borrowing more money to surmount a cash shortfall brought on by tumbling crude prices. The lesson? Takeover fever driven by the oil-market crash is yet to really heat up because share prices haven’t fallen as fast or hard as crude.