Billionaire Harold Hamm’s takeover of Continental Resources, Inc. and return to private ownership is for all practical purposes complete.
The Oklahoma City company he founded in the 1960s announced Tuesday it was initiating the final steps in closing its previously announced merger with Omega Acquisition, Inc. Omega is the company created by Hamm and his family to launch the takeover that was started last June.
The announcement stated that shares of Continental common stock are expected to cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange prior to market open on Wednesday, Nov. 23 and will no longer be listed for trading on the exchange.
Under the agreement announced last month, Hamm and his family had until the end of December to complete the takeover. The company’s final stock listing Tuesday afternoon was $74.27 with a 4 cent gain or 0.054% for the day, just one penny short of Hamm’s offer.
The offer by Hamm of $74.28 per share expired at midnight Nov. 21. As of 5 p.m. on Monday, a total of 36,312,840 shares of Continental common stock were validly tendered. It represents 62.5% of the outstanding shares of the company’s stock not already owned by Hamm and his family.
In addition, “Notices of Guaranteed Delivery” had been delivered for 3,443,455 shares of Continental common stock, representing approximately 5.9% of the outstanding shares not already owned by the Hamm family. Omega intends to accept for payment in accordance with the terms of the tender offer all shares of Continental common stock that were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn as of the expiration of the tender offer.
As a result of the deal, Omega will be merged into Continental and the surviving company will be Continental and wholly owned by the Hamm family.