ONEOK, Inc. and Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. have met at least one more requirement before their nearly $19 billion merger advances.
The two companies announced this week the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino
Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, in connection with ONEOK’s pending acquisition of Magellan. The expiration of the waiting period under the HSR Act satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the transaction.
Employees of both companies were also notified of the event.
“We continue to make progress toward closing our merger! We achieved two major milestones since our last employee letter: the filing of our joint preliminary proxy statement and the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act allowing the transaction to proceed,” stated leadership of the two firms.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023 subject to approval by both ONEOK shareholders and Magellan unitholders, and other customary closing conditions.
ONEOK and Magellan indicated they intend to file a joint definitive proxy statement in the coming weeks and will include more information about special votes to be taken by ONEOK shareholders and Magellan unitholders.
Executives of the two firms stated they recently held a full Integration Management Office meeting where coordination and planning efforts were officially launched.
” We got to know one another better, discussed shared values and began to envision our future together as ONE organization.
This meeting included KPMG, a firm that we have retained to support our integration, which has significant experience with large-scale integrations like ours.”
The goal of the integration process is to create one company aligned to one mission, one vision and one strategic map that creates exceptional value for all stakeholders stated the two firms.