Southwestern Energy Company, the Houston firm in the midst of a proposed merger with Chesapeake Energy filed an amended report with the SEC this week indicating it won’t be able to hold an annual meeting of shareholders within 120 days of the end of its 2023 fiscal year.
Because the Federal Trade Commission is still digging deeper into the $74 billion merger, Southwestern wouldn’t be able to meet the 120 day deadline as layed out in an SEC filing made some months ago..
Southwestern said it no longer intends to file a definitive proxy statement for the annual meeting of shareholders “in light of the Merger.”
Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy announced their agreed merger on Jan. 11 of this year. Chesapeake is moving ahead with its shareholders meeting but there won’t be a vote on the planned merger.
The Federal Trade Commission put the deal under increased scrutiny because of the size of the merger, and thus, it pushed back any closing date until the second half of 2024. Oil and gas company mergers have been put under more examination by Democrats in Congress who also want the FTC and other regulators to carry out deeper investigations of oil and gas firms. They claim their call is necessary to protect consumers and industry competition.