Cobalt shares fall after stock offering is priced
Cobalt International shares fall after stockholders announce they'll sell 50 million shares
HOUSTON (AP) -- Shares of Cobalt International Energy Inc. fell Wednesday after investors disclosed that they will sell 50 million shares at a price below Tuesday's closing.
Shares of the independent oil and gas exploration company sank $1.93, or 6.7 percent, to $26.85 by afternoon. Earlier, the stock dropped as low as $26.58, below the sale price of $26.80.
The company said that 50 million shares will be offered to the public by shareholders that are affiliates of several banks and investment groups. The underwriter, Citigroup, was given an option to buy up to 7.5 million more shares from some of the sellers.
Cobalt said it will not get proceeds from the sale.
The offering is expected to close Thursday.
The selling stockholders are affiliates of First Reserve, Goldman Sachs & Co., Riverstone Holdings LLC, The Carlyle Group and KERN Partners Ltd.
Houston-based Cobalt looks for oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Angola and Gabon in West Africa.
