Initial public offering plans were filed by the Linn Co LLC unit of Linn Energy LLC (NASDAQ:LINE ) recently as around $1 billion of common stock will reportedly be offered by the company. The proceeds of the initial public offering will reportedly be used to acquire some units of Linn Energy, a natural gas and oil developer, which will be equal to the shares of Linn Co that will be sold during the offering. Linn Co currently has no operations or assets aside from owning some interests in Linn Energy.
The proceeds that Linn Energy is expected to receive will be used by the company for general purposes such as repaying debts, provide funding for its acquisition plans, and paying for the cost incurred in the offering
Linn Co will be listed on the Global Select Market of Nasdaq and will use the symbol LNCO.
The filing of Linn Energy indicated that it thinks the structure of Linn Co will allow the expansion of the investor base of the parent company since Linn Co investors will not have the same tax obligations as the owners of the shares of Linn Energy. Corporate taxes will reportedly be imposed on Linn Co.
Linn Energy has purchased a number of properties recently. Among its latest acquisitions was the Jonah Field from BP American Production Co of BP PLC for $1.03 billion.
An agreement to purchase around 600,000 acres of properties in Kansas was also made recently between Linn Energy and BP PLC near the start of the year. The acquisition price for the Kansas property was reportedly at around $1.2 billion. A stake at the Wyoming oil field that Anadarko Petroleum Corp is developing was also sold to Linn Energy for around $400 million.
Shares of Linn Energy have increased recently by 2.19 percent or $0.77 as it went up to around $35.99 per share.
