Michael Pearl, the CFO of Western Midstream Partners, will be leaving the company, although the company didn’t say when! Michael Ure, the current CEO, is taking over the CFO duties until a successor is identified.

Western Midstream is a master limited partnership that went public in 2008 as a subsidiary of Anadarko. It’s now owned by Occidental, following its takeover of Anadarko last year. It has its head office in The Woodlands.

Mr Pearl joined Anadarko in 2004. He was the CFO of the general partner of Western Midstream for two years straddling the IPO.  After that, he held senior financial roles in Anadarko until he became the CFO of Western Midstream in October 2019. His base salary was $455,000.

In August 2019, ahead of his proposed appointment, Mr Pearl entered into a retention agreement that provided for three cash payments of $261,000 each, to be paid in February 2020, August 2020 and February 2021. If he was terminated without cause, the unpaid amounts would vest. In signing the retention agreement, Mr Pearl waived his right to additional severance payments.

SEC filing – Pearl departure

Michael Pearl has been appointed as the new CFO of the general partner of Western Midstream Partners.

Occidental fully owns the general partner stake and around 55% of the limited partner units. The company gained ownership following its takeover of Anadarko earlier this year. Western Midstream has a market cap of $10.3 billion and has its head office in The Woodlands.

Mr Pearl joined Anadarko in 2004 and served in various leadership positions such as Director of Tax, Treasurer, Corporate Controller and Senior VP of Investor Relations. He started his career at Ernst & Young.

Mr Pearl replaces Jaime Casas who has been appointed the VP and Treasurer of Occidental.

The company also announced the appointment of Catherine Green as the Chief Accounting Officer of the general partner of Western Midstream. She joined Anadarko in 2001 and started her career with Grant Thornton in the United Kingdom and Houston.

After its takeover of Anadarko, Occidental planned to sell Western Midstream to reduce debt. Or least sell enough of a stake so that it didn’t have to consolidate the $7.5 billion debt that Western Midstream carries.

Earlier this month, according to Reuters, Occidental shelved plans to sell Western Midstream because Western’s market value has dropped by 18% since July 30 and Occidental doesn’t want to sell at too low a price.

You can see the complete list of Houston-area publicly-traded companies here.

SEC filing – Western Midstream CFO

Noble Midstream Partners has appointed Thomas Christensen as the CFO of the General Partner. He was appointed interim CFO in July 2019 and has been the Chief Accounting Officer since August 2016.

Noble Midstream has a market cap of $960 million and is based in NW Houston. It was spun off from its parent company, Noble Energy, in September 2016.  That was when MLP partnerships going public was in vogue.

Noble Midstream Partners still gets 57% of its total revenues from Noble Energy, who still own a 45% partnership interest in them.

According to a report in Bloomberg in early August, The Williams Companies, based in Tulsa, and New York PE firm, Global Infrastructure Partners, are working on a possible offer for the company.

The previous CFO, John Bookout resigned to pursue another opportunity in July. He was followed out the door by CEO, Terry Gerhart, and COO, John Nicholson, the following month. They resigned on August 9 to ‘pursue other business opportunities’. Brent Smolik, currently the COO of Noble Energy, was appointed CEO of the General Partner.

SEC filing – Noble appointment of CFO

John Bookout, the CFO of Noble Midstream Partners, has resigned to pursue another (as yet undisclosed) opportunity. The resignation was effective June 28, 2019.

Noble Midstream (market cap $1.35 billion) was formed in 2014 and spun off by its parent company, Noble Energy, in an Initial Public Offering in September 2016. It operates midstream assets in the Delaware Basin of the Permian and the DJ Basin in Colorado.  It has its head office with Noble Energy in NW Houston.

Noble Midstream Partners still gets 57% of its total revenues from Noble Energy, who still own a 45% partnership interest in them.

This Reuters report from April indicated that the company had been put up for sale by Noble Energy. In early May, the company indicated that a strategic review was taking place but there have been no public announcements since then.

Mr Bookout became the CFO in October 2015, having joined Noble in July 2014.

Thomas Christensen has been appointed interim CFO. He has been the Chief Accounting Officer since August 2016. He previously worked in the Treasury Department of Noble. Mr Christensen joined Rosetta Resources in September 2009 which Noble acquired in July 2015.

Mr Bookout’s father, John F Bookout III is a Partner at Apollo Global Management. He was recently elected a non-executive director at McDermott International.

Noble Midstream Partners – SEC filing

Eric Kalamaras, CFO of American Midstream, will step down from his role no later than December 31, 2019.

American Midstream is in the process of being taken private by ArcLight, a PE firm that already owns 51% of the company. The offer of $5.25 per common unit represents an acquisition price of $285 million. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter.

American Midstream was formed in 2009 and went public in 2011. It moved its head office from Denver to west Houston in 2016. The company made a lot of acquisitions, mainly financed by debt.

Severance Package

Mr Kalamaras has been CFO since July 2016. He has a base salary of $300,00. For his severance package he will receive 12 months’ base salary, plus a pro-rated cash bonus. Last year’s bonus was $260,000.

All phantom stock units that Mr Kalamaras holds will vest at $5.25 per unit. This will amount to $662,366 at December 31, 2019. In addition, in August 2018, Mr Kalamaras, along with other senior executives, was awarded a special cash retention award that will also vest upon termination. For Mr Kalamaras this amounts to $623,712.

Lynn Bourdon, the CEO, recently left with a large payout

Dismal 2018

As a reminder during 2018 the company:

• filed its annual report late on April 1, 2019 due to going concern issues as its $522 million revolving credit facility matures in September 2019.
• filed its 2nd quarter report late due to its head office being closed to due to a water leak.
• reported material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting. That was the 5th year in a row that the company reported material weaknesses.
• failed to obtain financing for its $818 million planned merger with Southcross Holdings (announced in October 2017). As a result, American Midstream had to pay a $17 million termination fee.
• Slashed its quarterly distribution by 75% in order to preserve cash flow. This caused the price of the stock units to drop from $11.55 to $6 in July.

SEC filing