Activists highlight their takeover value

Article Excerpt

ENERGEN CORP. $74 (New York symbol EGN; Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 97.4 million; Market cap: $7.2 billion; No dividend paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.energen.com) explores for oil and gas in Texas and New Mexico. It has reserves of 444 million barrels of oil equivalent and the potential for another 2.7 billion barrels for future development. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn now owns 7.5% of Energen. As well, his former protege Keith Meister (head of Corvex Management), owns 7.9% of the company. The two investors feel the oil and gas producer is undervalued. As a result, they want Energen’s management to seek a buyer for the company. Icahn and Meister could also team up to buy Energen. The company recently started a strategic review of its operations. Energen also aims to improve its results with a new drilling technology, Gen 3 Completions. However, it has a history of increasing its drilling costs while failing to significantly increase its recovery rates. Still, Energen has interests in the Permian…