Repsol to acquire Talisman in $13 billion deal

Spain’s Repsol SA has agreed to acquire all shares of Talisman Energy Inc. of Calgary for $8.3 billion along with assumed debt of $4.7 billion. The deal has been approved and recommended by Talisman’s board, and the companies hope to complete it by midyear 2015.

The acquisition represents the largest international deal by a Spanish company in the last 5 years, elevating Repsol among the largest privately owned oil and gas companies in the world.

The addition of Talisman will increase Repsol Group’s production by 76% to 680,000 boe/d and reserves by 55% to 2,353 billion boe. The resulting company will be present in more than 50 countries with more than 27,000 employees. Calgary will become a primary corporate center for the company outside of Spain.

Repsol, which sought to enter more Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries, will add an extensive exploration portfolio in North America, Southeast Asia, as well as Colombia and Norway, among others. Once the deal is complete, North America’s weight in the resulting company will increase to almost 50% of capital employed in exploration. Latin America will represent 22%.

Repsol says the deal allows it to advance and surpass the exploration and production goals outlined in the company’s 2012-16 strategic plan (OGJ Online, June 4, 2012); and consolidates the upstream business unit as the company’s main growth segment in the coming years. Capital employed in this business will represent 56% of the total compared with 35% currently.

Repsol says the combined management of assets will represent synergies of more than $200 million/year from the optimization of corporate functions, management of businesses and exploration, an increased commercialization capacity in North America, and the application of technology and best operating practices.

The acquisition will be financed primarily with Repsol’s cash reserves, including the $6.3 billion it received for the expropriation of YPF, which was nationalized by Argentina in 2012 (OGJ Online, Apr. 17, 2012). Repsol subsequently launched a search for inorganic growth targets.

Repsol says Talisman has been a relevant player in most of the business and geographical areas analyzed by Repsol’s technical personnel, adding expertise that will benefit future development of the company in areas including offshore production and unconventional assets (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2011).

“The agreement with Talisman is the result of an exhaustive analysis of more than 100 companies and assets worldwide,” said Josu Jon Imaz, the Repsol chief executive officer.

“In every area, Talisman has always been the best option, because of the excellent quality of its complementary global assets, including its talent,” said Imaz. “With Repsol’s ability to support the growth of these assets there is much value to be realized—it is a win-win situation.”