Activist investor spurs BXE

Article Excerpt

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $7.43 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 191.1 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; No dividends paid) is now 7.4% owned by activist investor Orange Capital LLC. That’s up from the initial 5.3% interest that Orange Capital announced on September 4, 2014. Orange wants Bellatrix to discuss changing the size and composition of its 10-person board of directors. It also wants the company to hire a financial advisor to explore strategic alternatives, including selling its midstream assets (natural gas processing plants and pipeline gathering systems) or an outright sale of the entire firm. Bellatrix has been rapidly expanding over the past year. However, Alberta’s rising gas production has overwhelmed the pipelines that pump it to various processing facilities. This has hurt Bellatrix’s production and cash flow, as well as its share price. But when the bottlenecks are resolved, the company’s cash flow should jump. Whatever the outcome of Orange Capital’s involvement, the activist investor’s interest…