Marathon raises payment for MarkWest merger

OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2015. Marathon Petroleum will pay MarkWest unitholders an additional \\$400mn in connection with the pending merger, bringing Marathon's total cash contribution to \\$1.075bn, the company announced today.

Under the revised terms of the merger, MarkWest unit holders will receive a total of approximately \\$52.93 per unit, based on units outstanding and the common price of units of Marathon's pipeline partnership, MPLX.

In July MarkWest announced it would merge with MPLX, giving Marathon access to MarkWest's liquids pipelines and processing facilities throughout the Marcellus and Utica regions.

The revised agreement comes after John Fox, co-founder and former chief executive of MarkWest, wrote a letter to the company's board 4 November protesting the merger with MPLX. Fox, who holds 1.36mn units of MarkWest, argued the original deal hurt unitholders who would see greater value with MarkWest as a standalone company.