Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA)
disclosed today that on October 6, 2011 it submitted a proposal to
SemGroup Corporation (NYSE:SEMG) ("SemGroup") to acquire all of the
outstanding shares of SemGroup for $24.00 per share in cash. The
proposal was made orally and in a letter delivered to SemGroup's
President and Chief Executive Officer Norman Szydlowski. PAA's proposal
is subject to customary documentation and regulatory approvals, but is
not subject to a financing contingency.
Under its terms, the proposal represents a premium of approximately 16%
to SemGroup's 10-day average closing price through October 5, 2011, the
day immediately prior to PAA's proposal, and a premium of approximately
20% over the 10-day average closing price immediately prior to
SemGroup's August 31, 2011 announcement of its pending asset sale to NGL
Energy Partners LP ("NGL Energy Partners"). Following SemGroup's
rejection of and refusal to engage in constructive discussions regarding
the October 6th proposal, PAA today sent a letter to SemGroup
expressing its continued interest in pursuing the acquisition (the full
text of this letter is below). PAA is making the letter public in order
to inform SemGroup's stockholders and other stakeholders of the proposal
and PAA's commitment to completing a transaction on the proposed terms.
"We are disappointed that SemGroup's Board of Directors has refused to
engage in constructive discussions with us regarding a possible
transaction," said Greg L. Armstrong, PAA's Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer. "Since SemGroup's emergence from bankruptcy in November 2009,
its assets and businesses have consistently and materially
under-performed the projections in its Plan of Reorganization. We
believe that the attractive and certain value we are proposing to
deliver to SemGroup's stockholders is greater than any value that might
be created on a reasonable timetable from any of SemGroup's other
strategic alternatives, including the value attributable to a successful
completion of SemGroup's proposed initial public offering of its
newly-formed master limited partnership, Rose Rock Midstream, L.P., and
its announced transaction with NGL Energy Partners, the expected value
of which are already reflected in SemGroup's stock price. Notably, our
proposal incorporates and offers to SemGroup's stockholders benefits
from cost savings and synergies that we believe PAA is uniquely
positioned to realize upon consummation of the proposed transaction."
Text of PAA Letter to SemGroup:
October 24, 2011
Mr. Norman J. Szydlowski
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Mr. John F. Chlebowski
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President & Chief Executive Officer
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Chairman of the Board
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SemGroup Corporation
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SemGroup Corporation
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Two Warren Place
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Two Warren Place
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6120 S. Yale Avenue, Suite 700
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6120 S. Yale Avenue, Suite 700
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Tulsa, OK 74136-4216
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Tulsa, OK 74136-4216
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Dear Gentlemen:
We are disappointed by your Board's decision to reject our proposal to
acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding Class A and Class B common
stock of SemGroup Corporation ("SemGroup") for $24.00 per share in cash.
We are also disappointed by your Board's unwillingness to engage in
constructive discussions about our proposal. Accordingly, we are
compelled to take our proposal directly to your stockholders by making
the terms of our proposal public.
As we mentioned during our conversations with you, we believe our
proposal offers attractive value for your stockholders that is greater
than any value that might be created on a reasonable timetable from any
of SemGroup's other strategic alternatives. Our belief is supported by
the following points:
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Our proposal equates to a total enterprise value for SemGroup in
excess of $1.24 billion, which represents a premium valuation for
SemGroup based on recent trading and transaction multiples for
similarly situated companies. This is particularly true given the fact
that SemGroup's cash flow is burdened with significant maintenance
capital expenditures and foreign cash taxes.
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Our proposal incorporates significant value for synergies that we are
uniquely positioned to realize and provides greater value than might
be generated by SemGroup through any other possible third-party
combination or on a stand-alone basis. With SemGroup incurring over
$80 million of annualized year-to-date selling, general and
administrative expenses compared to approximately $99 million of
annualized year-to-date adjusted EBITDA (adjusted for the $6.1 million
non-recurring litigation settlement included in your second quarter
results) and limited identifiable growth prospects, SemGroup is
operating a high-cost, low-growth business in a highly competitive
commercial environment. The value imbedded in ourproposal
incorporates and offers to SemGroup's stockholders benefits from costs
savings and synergies that we believe will be achieved upon
consummation of the proposed transaction.
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Our proposal reflects a premium of approximately 16% over SemGroup's
10-day average closing price through October 5, 2011 (the day
immediately prior to our proposal), and an approximate 20% premium
over the 10-day average closing price immediately prior to the August
31, 2011 announcement of the pending transaction with NGL Energy
Partners LP ("NGL Energy Partners").
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Our proposal provides all of your stockholders an opportunity for
liquidity at an attractive and certain value that mitigates the
timing, market and execution risks associated with any alternative
value creation transactions. By comparison, the proposed initial
public offering (IPO) of Rose Rock Midstream, L.P. ("Rose Rock
Midstream") and the recently announced sale of SemStream's assets to
NGL Energy Partners, if both are completed successfully, will result
in SemGroup receiving limited cash proceeds and holding illiquid
securities. Moreover, we believe that SemGroup's current trading price
fully reflects the potential upside of these transactions, and the
success of the Rose Rock Midstream IPO will be largely dependent on
the state of the financial markets, which are currently volatile and
highly unpredictable.
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The Rose Rock Midstream IPO will result in SemGroup principally
owning a general partner interest, associated incentive
distribution rights and subordinated units. As you are well aware,
subordinated units in MLPs are initially valued at a substantial
discount to the value of common units, and conversion of the
subordinated units into common units will likely take at least
three years following the closing of the IPO, if it occurs at all.
The value of the incentive distribution rights is wholly dependent
on Rose Rock Midstream's ability to grow distributions to its unit
holders, which will be challenging given the limited growth
profile of the SemGroup assets that will initially be contributed
to Rose Rock Midstream and the lack of additional SemGroup assets
suitable for future contribution.
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The sale of SemStream's assets to NGL Energy Partners will result
in SemGroup owning approximately 9 million common units of NGL
Energy Partners, or approximately 53% of NGL Energy Partners'
current public float. As part of the transaction, SemGroup has
agreed to waive ordinary cash distributions on 3.75 million of
these common units through August 2012. Given (i) the restricted
nature of the common units and the waiver of ordinary
distributions on a significant portion of the common units and
(ii) liquidity concerns due to the size of SemGroup's position
relative to NGL Energy Partners' limited public float, the common
units will be valued at a substantial discount to market trading
prices. Similarly, the 7.5% general partner interest and
associated minority board representation in NGL Energy Partners
will provide minimal current value to SemGroup's stockholders.
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In addition to the strategic initiatives described above, we recognize
that you have publicly announced plans to increase the capacity of
your gas processing facilities in northern Oklahoma. As with your
other initiatives, we believe that our proposal incorporates the
increased cash flows anticipated to result from this expansion and
other publicly announced growth opportunities.
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Since its emergence from bankruptcy in late 2009, SemGroup's 2010 and
2011 results have consistently and materially failed to meet the
performance metrics laid out in SemGroup's plan of reorganization. In
anticipation of results in line with the financial forecasts in the
plan of reorganization, SemGroup's stock price traded to unsustainable
levels in early 2011, but began a steady decline, reaching a 52-week
low of $16.55 in August. Despite SemGroup's considerable reduction in
forecasted adjusted EBITDA since the reorganization, our proposal,
which incorporates significant cost savings and anticipated synergies,
will allow all of SemGroup's stockholders to receive liquidity,
realize a premium to SemGroup's recent trading price and a value
consistent with that set forth in the plan of reorganization.
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With over $2.5 billion of cash and available borrowing capacity under
our existing credit facilities, consummation of our proposal will not
require additional financing and we are confident that we can obtain
all required regulatory approvals.
In your letter indicating your refusal to engage with us, you reference
our March 2010 proposal and characterize our current and past proposals
as opportunistic and failing to adequately reflect SemGroup's bright
prospects for stockholder value creation. As you are aware, PAA's
interest in pursuing a transaction with SemGroup dates back several
years and is anything but opportunistic.
When we submitted our proposal to acquire SemGroup for $17.00 per share
in March 2010, we anticipated that SemGroup would struggle to achieve
the operating and financial performance levels forecast in its
bankruptcy plan of reorganization, as finalized in November 2009. These
forecasts supported and were a critical underpinning for the $25.00 per
share deemed valuation contained in the plan of reorganization, as
determined by SemGroup's own advisors.
As noted above, since March 2010, SemGroup's subsequent performance has
validated our position as actual operating and financial results have
fallen materially short of the plan of reorganization forecasts,
notwithstanding favorable market conditions during which PAA and other
market participants have exceeded expectations. These favorable market
conditions, which can be transitory, help support PAA's willingness to
increase its proposal by over 40% to $24.00 per share, along with the
fact that PAA is uniquely positioned to realize significant costs
savings and synergies, which are reflected in our proposal and thus
would be shared with your stockholders.
We continue to believe, and SemGroup's recent performance appears to
confirm, that on a stand-alone basis SemGroup will continue to fall
materially short of expectations, including the plan of reorganization
forecasts. In light of all of these considerations, we believe that our
proposal incorporates a significant premium relative to the value that
SemGroup will be able to create and sustain on a stand-alone basis, even
after taking into consideration SemGroup's publicly announced strategic
and other growth initiatives.
As a result, we believe you and the SemGroup Board should reconsider our
proposal. As we indicated in our previous letter and our discussions
with you, we based our proposed value upon public information, and we
will consider increasing our proposal if we have full access to
SemGroup's non-competitive information and are able to identify
additional opportunities to create value. As we also indicated, if
preferred by your stockholders, we would consider alternative forms of
consideration, including PAA common units. We believe PAA's common units
represent a compelling value with a current yield of approximately 6.3%.
PAA has a solid history of distribution growth, increasing its quarterly
distribution in 28 of the last 30 quarters and consecutively in each of
the last nine quarters. We believe your agreement to work towards a
mutually beneficial transaction is clearly in the best interests of
SemGroup's stockholders.
We are committed to completing a transaction with SemGroup. Given the
liquidity and substantial value represented by our proposal, we are
confident that a substantial majority of SemGroup's stockholders will
support our proposal. We have taken the step of making this letter
public to explain directly to your stockholders our proposal, our
actions and our commitment. Your refusal to engage with us will only
further delay the ability of your stockholders to realize liquidity and
receive the substantial value represented by our all-cash proposal.
In order to move forward quickly, we have retained Evercore Partners as
our financial advisor and Vinson & Elkins and Morris Nichols as our
legal advisors, and they, alongside our senior management, have already
completed extensive analysis and due diligence based on publicly
available information. We could complete our confirmatory due diligence,
finalize the terms of a transaction and make the appropriate regulatory
filings very quickly.
We are ready to meet with you and your team immediately to discuss next
steps toward achieving a mutually acceptable, negotiated transaction.
Very truly yours,
Greg L. Armstrong
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters
discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that
involve certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties
include, among other things, (i) our ability to successfully complete
the proposed transaction or realize the anticipated benefits of a
transaction; (ii) our ability to obtain stockholder, antitrust,
regulatory and other approvals for the proposed transaction, or an
inability to obtain them on the terms proposed or on any anticipated
schedule; (iii) uncertainty of our expected financial performance
following completion of the proposed transaction; (iv) and all factors
and uncertainties inherent in the marketing, transportation,
terminalling, gathering and storage of crude oil and other
petroleum-related products discussed in PAA's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Forward-looking
statements, like all statements in this press release, speak only as of
the date of this press release (unless another date is indicated). We do
not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or
otherwise.
Additional Information
This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any
vote, consent or approval. No tender offer for the shares of SemGroup
has been made at this time. This press release relates to a potential
business combination transaction with SemGroup proposed by PAA. This
material is not a substitute for any tender offer statement, proxy
statement or any other document which PAA may file with the SEC in
connection with the proposed transaction. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS
ARE URGED TO READ ANY SUCH DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN
THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL
CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Any such
documents will be available free of charge through the website
maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov
or by directing a request to PAA at 333 Clay Street, Suite 1600,
Houston, Texas 77002, Attn: Investor Relations.
PAA, Plains AAP, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, and Plains All
American GP LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ("PAA GP"), the
directors and executive officers of PAA GP, and other persons may be
deemed to be participants in any future solicitation of proxies or
consents from SemGroup's stockholders in respect of the proposed
transaction with SemGroup. Information regarding PAA GP's directors and
executive officers is available in PAA's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2010. Other information regarding potential
participants in such proxy solicitation or consent solicitation and a
description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings
or otherwise, will be contained in future filings relating to the
proposed transaction.
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is a publicly-traded master limited
partnership engaged in the transportation, storage, terminalling and
marketing of crude oil, refined products and liquefied petroleum gas and
other natural gas related petroleum products. Through its general
partner interest and majority equity ownership position in PAA Natural
Gas Storage, L.P. (NYSE: PNG), PAA is also engaged in the development
and operation of natural gas storage facilities. PAA is headquartered in
Houston, Texas.
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.
Roy I. Lamoreaux,
713-646-4222 or 800-564-3036
Director, Investor Relations
or
The
Abernathy MacGregor Group
Tom Johnson or Chuck Burgess,
212-371-5999