2010-11-18-2010-10-06

To buy 500,000 net acres of Appalachian Basin leasehold and option rights in PA, OH & NY, which have exposure to the Marcellus, Utica and Trenton Black River exploration trends.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, (NYSE: CHK) has revealed itself as the buyer planning to acquire the Appalachian Basin assets held by privately held Denver-based Anschutz Corp. in a deal valued at $850 million.

Anschutz is offering the assets through its The Anschutz Exploration Corp. affiliate.

The assets includes 500,000 net acres of Appalachian Basin leasehold and option rights in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York, which have exposure to the Marcellus, Utica and Trenton Black River exploration trends.

Approximately 25% of these assets will be immediately marketed for resale by Chesapeake after closing while the remainder of the assets will be combined with Chesapeake leasehold as the company plans to execute a new industry joint venture in the first half of 2011.

The Wall Street Journal reported in August that the entire Anschutz E&P company was on the sales block and could fetch upwards of $1 billion. Apart from the Appalachian Basin, the company has E&P assets in Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana. The newspaper adds that the company was reported to have drilled 80 wells since 2006.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is financial advisor to Anschutz.

The deal is expected to close by Nov. 30.