Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Baytex Energy and Ranger Oil conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there'll be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star, then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brian Ector, Vice President, Capital Markets with Baytex Energy. Mr. Ector, please proceed.
Thank you, Geline. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the call. With me, I have Eric Greager, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Chad Kalmakoff, our Chief Financial Officer, and Chad Lundberg, our Chief Operating and Sustainability Officer. We are very pleased to be discussing the strategic acquisition of Ranger Oil announced earlier this morning. In addition to this conference call, we have posted a presentation outlining key points of the transaction on our website at baytexenergy.com. Following our prepared remarks, we will be taking questions from analysts. If you are listening in today via the webcast, you will have the opportunity to submit an online question. While listening, please keep in mind that some of our remarks will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
I refer you to our advisories regarding forward-looking statements, non-GAAP financial measures, and capital management measures in oil and gas information in this morning's press release. All dollar amounts referenced in our remarks are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified. I would now like to turn the call over to Eric.
Thanks, Brian. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us on such short notice. Earlier this morning, Baytex announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Ranger Oil, a pure-play Eagle Ford E&P company. This is a strategic transaction for us. I could not be more excited. It is very rare that an opportunity comes along that can tick so many boxes for value creation and at the same time lead to enhanced shareholder returns. For those not familiar with Ranger, we are acquiring a strong operating capability in the Eagle Ford, on trend with our non-operated position in the Karnes Trough and driving meaningful per share accretion on all metrics. The transaction more than doubles our EBITDA and nearly doubles our free cash flow.
The Ranger drilling inventory immediately competes for capital in our portfolio and brings 12 - 15 years of quality oil-weighted drilling opportunities. We're building quality scale and a more durable business with a lower breakeven WTI price. This transaction allows us to reaffirm our commitment to enhancing direct shareholder returns, and we are strongly positioned to return more value to our shareholders on a per-share basis. Upon closing of this transaction, we intend to initiate a dividend, which will be a key means of delivering reliable value to shareholders going forward. I'll start by discussing some key elements of the transaction, and then I will expand on the strategic benefits in the combined business.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Ranger shareholders will receive 7.49 Baytex shares plus $13.31 in cash for each common share for a total consideration of approximately $44.36 per share. This represents a 7.6% premium to Ranger's closing price on February 24th. The total transaction value is approximately $2.5 billion, including a net debt of approximately $650 million, estimated on closing. The cash portion of the acquisition is expected to be funded in part through expanded credit facilities and the issuance of debt securities. The boards of directors of Baytex and Ranger have unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the late Q2 of 2023.
The transaction is subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast by the holders of Ranger's common stock at a special meeting of the Ranger stockholders held for that purpose. Affiliates of Juniper Capital own approximately 54% of the Ranger common stock and have entered into a support agreement with Baytex, pursuant to which Juniper has agreed to vote all of the Ranger common stock it owns in favor of the transaction. In addition, at closing, Baytex will enter into a hold period agreement with Juniper. Of the Baytex shares issued to Juniper, one-third will be subject to a three-month escrow period, one-third will be subject to a six-month escrow period, and one-third will be subject to a nine-month escrow period.
The closing of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval by Baytex's shareholders of the issuance of Baytex shares as consideration for the acquisition. I would now like to go into a little more detail on the benefits of the acquisition and why we are so excited. First, just a little background. Baytex first explored the notion of acquiring an operated position in the Eagle Ford several years ago, but the company's financial health made it difficult to pursue such a strategy. In fact, Ranger and its predecessor company had been on Baytex's radar for a number of years. Fast-forward to today, and we're in a much stronger position. Frankly, it's rare that an opportunity comes along that can deliver on so many fronts for our shareholders.
The assets are being acquired at an attractive valuation. The acquisition is immediately accretive to key metrics. Transaction metrics are approximately 2.86 x next 12 months EBITDA at $75 per barrel WTI. 50,000 per BOE of production on a working interest basis. The financial accretion per share is very strong based on a 12-month period post-closing. 24% accretion to adjusted funds flow per share, 20% accretion to free cash flow per share, 12% accretion to production per share, 20% accretion to direct shareholder returns per share. Importantly, on a long-term basis, over the remaining four years of our 5-year plan period, 2023-2026, the acquisition is 23% accretive to our free cash flow per share.
On closing of the transaction, Baytex intends to increase direct shareholder returns to 50% of free cash flow, introduce a dividend, and increase share buybacks. Following closing of the transaction, management expects to recommend that the dividend to be paid quarterly be set at CAD 0.0225 per share or CAD 0.09 per share annualized, representing a dividend yield of approximately 1.6%. The initial dividend is expected to be paid in October 2023 and would represent 4% of adjusted funds flow and 8% of free cash flow at $75 WTI. The dividend is expected to be fully funded to $47 a barrel WTI. The transaction materially increases our scale in Eagle Ford while building a quality operating platform in a premier basin.
The transaction includes 162,000 net acres in the crude oil window of the Eagle Ford Shale, production of 67,000-70,000 BOE per day of working interest production that is 96% operated, 258 million BOE of proved plus probable reserves. Baytex's production is forecast to average 155,000-160,000 BOE per day for the 12-month period following closing. On a pro forma basis, our market capitalization will be approximately CAD 5 billion and our enterprise value CAD 7.6 billion, assuming $75 WTI. We expect to generate annual EBITDA of approximately CAD 2.4 billion and annual free cash flow of approximately CAD 1 billion. In addition to accretion on key financial metrics, the acquisition enhances our inventory and drilling opportunities.
We estimate 741 net undrilled locations representing an inventory life of 12-15 years that immediately competes for capital in the Baytex portfolio. This includes 523 Lower Eagle Ford drilling opportunities and 218 additional Upper Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk opportunities. Lower Eagle Ford locations are expected to generate IRRs greater than 75% and payouts of less than 18 months at $75 WTI. We believe the acquired assets can grow modestly with two rigs and approximately 50-55 net wells per year. We are creating a more resilient business. On a pro forma basis, our operated production increases 82% and our asset-level free cash flow break-even price improves by $7 per barrel to $41 per barrel WTI.
Another exciting aspect of the transaction is that it improves and provides increased exposure to US premium Gulf Coast pricing. Baytex's light oil production in the Eagle Ford increases to 41% of combined production, 18% previously, which receives WTI plus approximately $2 per barrel price realizations. In addition, there is substantial infrastructure in place with low operating and transportation costs. On a pro forma basis, Baytex's revenue per BOE increases 7% and operating net back per BOE increases 12%. We are maintaining our balance sheet strength and financial flexibility. On closing the transaction, Baytex's credit facilities will increase to $1 billion, $850 million previously, and the company will maintain strong liquidity. Baytex's total debt-to-EBITDA ratio is forecast to be 1.0 x at $75 WTI.
Following completion of the acquisition, Baytex's balance sheet will remain a priority with a newly established total debt target of CAD 1.5 billion, representing approximately one turn total debt-to-EBITDA at $50 WTI. Upon achieving this net debt level, Baytex intends to increase direct shareholder returns to 75% of free cash flow. In conjunction with the acquisition, Baytex expects to have approximately 40% of net crude oil exposure hedged for the 12-month period post-closing. Baytex will continue to pursue ESG excellence while integrating Ranger's assets and operations. The Ranger acquisition reduces Baytex's average greenhouse gas intensity by 16%. The combined business will continue to be led by the Baytex executive team and board of directors. Baytex intends to add one senior operational leader to the Baytex leadership team and retain the Ranger teams operating in Houston and in the field.
At closing, Baytex intends to appoint two independent directors from Ranger to the Baytex board of directors. As I conclude my opening remarks, let me just say how proud I am of our team and the high quality and diversified oil portfolio that has been assembled. As we build an operating platform in the Eagle Ford, we've become much stronger. We are delivering significant accretion, enhancing shareholder returns, building quality scale with an enhanced inventory, and we are creating a more resilient business with a strong balance sheet and financial flexibility. We have a strong shareholder return framework in place, and we are excited to be introducing a dividend and enhancing direct shareholder returns on a per share basis. Our objective going forward will be to continue delivering modest and reliable annual production growth organically and generate meaningful free cash flow while maintaining reasonable financial leverage.
We're building an even stronger Canadian energy company with a high-quality, diversified, oil-weighted portfolio across the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the Eagle Ford, something that I am extremely excited to be part of. That will conclude our formal remarks, and we will ask the operator to open the call for questions.
Certainly. We'll now begin the question-and-answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. You'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, you can press star, then two. Our first question is from Menno Hulshof with TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Eric, you touched on it in your opening remarks, but can you just maybe elaborate on why this deal came together today as opposed to at some point in the, in the past? As a follow-up to that, were you looking at other Eagle Ford opportunities at the same time, or was this your sole focus from the beginning?
Yes, good morning, Menno. Thanks for the question. You know, when I joined in November, when I joined Baytex in November, one of the early questions I asked is, you know, what are we looking at, you know, in adjacent properties, you know, for corporate development, and how do we think about that? That, you know, that was a broad question, WCSB, Eagle Ford. The team had built and was maintaining a model on Ranger at the time already. It had been, you know, as we stated earlier, on the radar of the Baytex management team prior to my arrival. Of course, you know, I know members of the Ranger management team. I've known many of them for a long time, going back more than a decade.
I have a great deal of confidence in their operating and technical capabilities, and not just what they think, but also how they think about value creation and optimizing a portfolio of drilling opportunities. You know, I had an embedded level of confidence just through that understanding. The fact that the team at Baytex had already built out, you know, a subsurface technical model as well as, you know, kind of financial model and had been evaluating, made it easier for us to respond quickly when we were invited to the data room. Of course, you know, that there was a leak, if you will, or a Reuters article back in November, suggesting that the process was underway.
About the same time, we were invited to the process and were able to react pretty quickly to that. I think that gives kind of maybe some context about kind of how and why we were able to, if you like, spring into action so quickly upon my arrival. You know, I had a framework for thinking about the Eagle Ford more broadly, having operated assets in Eagle Ford in my history, but the team also had a framework in place. Really what we needed to do is just quickly put our heads together technically and operationally and understand, you know, where we had, you know, common understanding and where we needed to bring our thoughts together. That kind of gives us, you know, context about why we could move so quickly.
I think, you know, it's great to have the agility and have the teams that can spring into action so quickly, Menno, because, you know, you can't control when things come to market. You just have to be able to react, and I'm really proud of the work that was done. It was a lift. You know, I was integrating. I was getting to know the assets of Baytex myself throughout the summer and the fall. Then, of course, we were releasing a budget and building reserves and finalizing 4 Q and 2022 filings, and this at the same time, while also making a CEO transition.
It was a lot for the team, and I'm incredibly proud of the effort and the work and the quality of the work that's been done to bring this to culmination this morning.
Okay. Thanks for that detail, Eric. Just to my follow-up relates to decline rates and sustaining capital. What do those two numbers look like for Ranger today? Then similarly, what do those two numbers look like for Baytex on a pro forma basis?
Yeah. The way we see, and I'm happy to have other comments from the leadership team here. We're all together in the conference room. Let me start by saying, the way we view the Ranger assets, you know, they've got a base decline rate of about 39%, and our base decline rate is, call it 33%, 34%. There'll be a slight increase, you know, on a, on a kind of blended basis. You would expect that. Eagle Ford has a higher decline rate. And offset by, you know, all the balance of the positives with regard to, you know, the size of the EURs and the returns and the premium pricing.
We really do like the fact that, you know, just, you know, bringing the two companies together, with Baytex's heavy oil exposure to the north, particularly with, you know, a WCS, basis diff compressing. You know, we have really good gearing, or torque to the upside as WTI moves higher. We also have this agility now and this, and this capability to direct capital south of the border into the Eagle Ford assets, you know, with this operating capability and this large high-quality platform, in the Eagle Ford.
As prices move down, should they do so, you know, we have both torque and gearing to the upside to be offensive, with our heavy oil, but also we have the opportunity to move capital to the South where the WTI breakevens are lower, in the event that WTI moves lower, and we have to be defensive. It's a little bit like, you know, in a single move, we were able to, you know, create accretion across the financial metrics, while building, you know, a bigger, but more importantly, a better and more durable business that has a defensive element to it insofar as the lower breakevens in South Texas.
Let me stop there and just see if, you know, that answers the question on breakeven, the quality, the diversity, and the decline rates.
In terms of capital, Menno, there are assets and their assets, I guess, on a sustaining basis of, you know, ours 80-90, and theirs kind of 67,500-70,000. Similar type CapEx, on a sustaining basis, about CAD 575-CAD 600.
I think the decline will moderate with time. They've been on a growth trajectory as a company. As we think about capital construct with the pro forma entity forward, we're going to, you know, grow the asset at a much more level pace, similar to our own portfolio today, which will naturally start to bring the decline down.
Thanks, everyone. I'll turn it back.
The next question. Before that, once again, if you have a question, please press star then one. The next question is from Jeremy McCrea with Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. I'm wondering if you can tell me how this inventory compares to your other inventory in terms of where you plan to put capital allocation, just looking at a bit of the slide deck here. You know, I'm looking at, you know, payouts of 1.4 years in some of the Eagle Ford stuff here. You know, like, I know it's, you know, it has a lower breakeven, but, you know, I just wanna know how you guys are gonna reallocate capital here versus the Clearwater, some of the other heavy oil versus the inventory that you have here.
You bet. Good morning, Jeremy. This is Eric. Again, I'm happy to pitch it around the room as we build out the answer to this question. You're looking at slide eight, I believe, I'm looking at slide nine, which I think is another important one for the context of this answer. You know, when I look at Baytex, Ranger pro forma on a skyline opportunities plot, on the lower left panel of slide nine, you see the Ranger inventory in blue and the Baytex inventory in orange. What you see all the way to the left, this is, of course, at $75 WTI. All the way on the left, you see our Clearwater at Peavine. I don't have to tell you, Jeremy, that's an absolutely spectacular asset.
It's just as good as the world will give anywhere. And it's, you know, we're still unlocking its potential, and it has a lot of additional potential. But as I think we've talked in the past, you know, we're bringing that to a plateau level of production in the kinda 12,000 barrel a day-15,000 barrel a day level. It'll print a lot of free cash flow over the balance of the 10 years as we level it off. It's not gonna grow meaningfully above this kind of range of 12,000 barrels a day-15,000 barrels a day. On, on a base of even 90,000, you know, BOE a day, which is the, let's call it, the exit rate of Baytex standalone, you know, it has kinda delivered the growth that it can deliver.
Again, returns are spectacular, but it can't really give more than that because we're trying to be, you know, just as respectful and really intentional about our surface development there in the Peavine community. Having said that's the little spike to the left. You see, you know, this kind of block of orange. That's a combination of our heavy oil Lloydminster as well as our Karnes Trough non-op. Again, really good inventory, really good performance in terms of unconventional and conventional on the Lloyd side. You get into the Ranger block of blue. This really identifies kind of how it performs within our portfolio, and we intend to allocate capital across all of these opportunities, you know, obviously toward the best ones first.
You know, the spiky kind of opportunities to the left in Peavine and the Clearwater are precious few. You get into the opportunity set that is right there, you know, with Lloyd, Karnes Trough, Eagle Ford, and non-op, and then, of course, our operated position with the Ranger acquisition. We'll have a lot larger opportunity set to allocate capital to. Again, if you look to the right-hand panel, lower right of slide nine, you see what happens to the inventory and the performance as prices go down. That one's benchmarked at $55 WTI. You can see that the collection of Ranger inventory collapses and mostly lives left of the midpoint of our inventory. This is what we mean when we say defensive in nature.
You know, if prices go down. We actually print cash flow, free cash flow at a lower break-even price. This is as a result of, you know, the high-quality Ranger assets. I'm gonna stop right there. Feel free to ask me to follow up or ask me a question if I failed to deliver on the answer.
Yeah, I guess what I'm trying to understand is just how if you're shifting your CapEx, if a lot of the CapEx you were drilling for this year was going after the Lloyd and the Clearwater, how does your profitability go forward if you're looks like potentially drilling some not as good as wells, but as it starts to degrade kind of thing here. Like, I know it's important for, you know, accretion and the cash flow and the free cash flow and that, but I'm just trying to get a better sense of effectively is your efficiency going forward degrading here with this acquisition?
Yeah. I don't think it is. What I would point out is it's not really a shift of capital. We won't be taking capital away from our WCSB opportunities on the left-hand side. We simply don't have, you know, other than the inventory that the Ranger opportunity presents, we don't have enough opportunities to continue, you know, driving forward in, you know, in a way that kind of gives us the opportunity to grow the quality scale we'd like to. That is to say, Lloyd is, we're putting as much money to work in Lloyd at the highest opportunity, you know, economics we can also, you know, in the Clearwater at Peavine, also in the Karnes Trough. All of those opportunity sets are effectively maxed out, and they're taking all the capital they can take at this juncture.
The Ranger opportunity doubles the opportunity set, and will compete for capital. We're essentially allocating the same amount of capital go forward to all the opportunities to the left, but there really isn't a great deal of opportunity to grow that block to the left, if I said it another way. The way to grow the overall opportunity set is to introduce more opportunities as good as we can get our hands on. At this price paid with this accretion and the quality of the opportunities to drill and develop, we think this is exactly the right move.
It also builds, you know, capabilities in the Eagle Ford that will continue to, you know, present, I think, you know, working interest opportunities and block-ins and tuck-ins and the like, as we have, you know, in WCSB. We just see this as a great opportunity to not shift capital, but rather just expand the opportunity set, to invest in, quality opportunities and grow cash flow and free cash flow and improve that flow right through the return of capital.
Okay. maybe just kind of the last follow-up question into that. If, you know, these assets were quite strong, why don't you think Ranger traded at a bigger multiple than we're currently traded at here?
Yeah, you probably have as good a view on that as I do, but I'll tell you, I'll tell you my view, and then let, you know, let's have a conversation about it if it's, if you don't share the view. Juniper Capital owns 54% of Ranger's outstanding shares, and, you know, that in this, in this midcap world, whether you're in Canada or the U.S., you know, we all know that that tends to kinda create concern on the part of, you know, the other shareholders with regard to, you know, what we all call an overhang.
You combine that with kind of the modern state of play, you know, in the last you could call it five years, maybe a little bit longer in North American oil and gas or unconventional oil and gas, which is, you know, there's a lot of midcap E&Ps, public and private, but we'll talk about the publics, and there's precious less investor attention to go around. What that means is we think investors, you know, have kind of all the opportunities they need in the large caps. They can invest in, you know, big, diversified companies with, you know, lower cost of capital and investment-grade credit. What that means is there's not a lot that flows down capitalization into the small and midcap space.
One of the things we believe is that if we can add value to Baytex, you know, with the transactions kind of on their face, holding the, you know, on their own merit, creating value for Baytex shareholders, while also creating not just a bigger but a better pro forma enterprise, then should lead to more relevance as we grow kind of up capitalization, eventually both by scale and by credit quality. You know, our aspiration would be to eventually, you know, compete for investment-grade credit and, you know, the kind of lower cost of capital that allows, you know, all of the drilling opportunities and all the cost-saving opportunities and optimization to accrete more toward free cash flow, the yields and the quality of our outputs to our shareholders.
you know, that's kind of a, if you like, a 50,000 foot aspirational view of why we think growing is the right thing to do, but it's gotta be, it's gotta be quality scale, right? That's why this is so important. It prints accretion on every metric, both long term and short term, down, you know, from revenue all the way down through the return of capital. And we think that really makes a bold statement in terms of the durability of the business, and the fact that the free cash flows manifest themselves right away, you know, immediately in both the initiation of a dividend but also a step up in our free cash flow allocation to our share repurchases. Let me just stop there, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of that.
There is something to be said about smaller in scale and lower cost of capital here for different reasons here. I think with Juniper owning as much as they do, that probably puts a bit of a hold in it. It's some of the things that I think a lot of the investors are probably familiar more with your Canadian assets and maybe less so with the Eagle Ford. Sometimes it's things that you don't necessarily see right away sometimes.
Yep.
Okay. Thank you.
Thanks, Jeremy.
With that, I'd like to turn the conference back over to Brian Ector for questions from webcast viewers.
Thank you very much. We have had a couple of questions come in on the webcast line. Several related to the existing Ranger bonds that are outstanding and would we consider a broader refinance? Or how are we financing the transaction within our credit facilities, and what is the intent with the Ranger bonds that are outstanding? Maybe I'll turn it over to Chad to just elaborate a little bit on the financing structure from the Baytex side and the intent with the Ranger bonds.
Sure. Thanks, Brian. Yeah, obviously the Ranger has high-yield bonds outstanding. Our intention would be to redeem those bonds as part of this transaction. We've arranged secured lending financing from RBC, CIBC, and Scotiabank. We'll be expanding our credit facility to $1 billion. We're gonna add in a $250 million term loan, and we have a $500 million bridge financing in place to ensure we close the transaction. Our intent would be to market a high-yield offering as soon as possible and not have to use the bridge.
A follow-up question, Chad. Any conversations with rating agencies?
We've kinda given them a heads-up briefly. We expect that they'll have some commentary out today, and then we'll go into kind of more formal processes here, as the transaction progresses.
I know, Eric, you touched on this during your comments in the Q&A on the Clearwater. A question from an investor with respect to the economic inventory, you know, the strength of that economic inventory and sort of what's your view and plan with the team and with respect to the Clearwater and our Peavine development moving forward, given it'll be a little less a part of the portfolio on a pro forma basis?
Well, yeah, on a, on a pro forma percentage basis because the overall, you know, portfolio's getting bigger. Again, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna keep doing, keep developing the Clearwater at Peavine, you know, you know, to the same extent we are now. It's. The returns are spectacular. The performance is spectacular. The team is doing an absolutely fantastic job. You know, the Clearwater at Peavine, you know, has been a really important point to our, you know, to our messaging and our stock, but it's, it's just not big enough. It can't grow meaningfully above. You know, maybe there'll be quarters where we can, where we can, sort of punch above 15,000 barrels a day.
Just over the long arc of time, we're trying to be, you know, I would say, one, intentionally, you know, conservative, but also respectful in terms of how we develop to ensure that, you know, we maintain our license to operate, that we maintain really high quality relationships. There's no diminishment whatsoever to our, you know, Clearwater Peavine development, our, you know, continued organic exploration program around the broader Clearwater, around our Peace River area. We're gonna continue, you know, looking to develop and explore. The same geoscience team that discovered the Clearwater and ring-fenced this absolutely spectacular performance at Peavine is working to find more. We're gonna continue looking, and we will do everything we can to grow it. It is, you know, it is kinda growing at its long-term maximum, and that's the plateau.
If we can find a way to find more that competes, we absolutely will. I just wanna reiterate, there's no diminishment of the Clearwater or other, you know, highly economic WCSB heavy oil opportunities. This is really just adding to those and deploying incrementally new capital. The capital that is generated by the Eagle Ford assets is redeployed in the Eagle Ford assets. That is to say, you're doubling the size of the cash flow, and you're doubling the opportunity set to reinvest that back, and you're doubling, you know, more than doubling the EBITDA or doubling the EBITDA and almost doubling, you know, the free cash flow. This is just an opportunity of getting bigger and better, but not shifting or diminishing other parts of our existing standalone business.
Eric, the last question that I'm seeing here, relates to, you know, you touched on a lot of the merits of the transaction, and obviously from a retail investor standpoint, how would Alleviate concerns around how the, you know, the near term trading or the potential share price reaction whenever there's a large transaction of this nature?
Yeah, no, it's a great question, and I don't, you know, I can't handicap, you know, how the actual dynamics of trading are gonna take place over time. What I can say is the accretion on a per share basis is just, you know, to me, should stand on its own. Return on capital per share, free cash flow per share, operating cash flow per share, production per share, like this is accretive on every metric. This adds real, you know, nuts and bolts value to the business. That will flow through, you know, all the cash flows and all the metrics and should flow through to the trading. There'll be some mechanics of course, you know.
There are, you know, flow backs and things that have to take place as people trade around their positions. This is a good piece of business. This is a solid piece of business and creates value for Baytex shareholders and is accretive on every metric. I think the transaction stands on its own. It has a great deal of merit on its own.
Another question here that has just come in from an institutional investor, yeah, in New York. How would you view the Juniper shares within sort of the portfolio now and plans moving forward? Could they be part of planned share repurchases as we move to 15% of our free cash flow from a share repurchase standpoint? Where does Juniper fit into the mix here as we move forward?
Yeah. It, it's a fair question. You know, I don't I can't speak on behalf of Juniper, of course. They'll, you know, they'll have their own plans. We thought the, we thought the 3-6-9 lockup was an appropriate way to, you know, create a measured approach to, you know, their ability to monetize their position should they choose to do so, but it's entirely their choice. You know, what I would say is, you know, I know them. I like them. They're very constructive. They were constructive in Ranger. They're constructive in all the conversations we've had. Their team is very smart and very constructive. Look, if they wanna sell down, that's their choice. I think there's gonna be my own personal views.
There's gonna be demand. We ought to be able to help accomplish that in an orderly fashion. There's a lot of liquidity and, of course, our New York Stock Exchange listing last week, you know, creates access to a number of additional, you know, institutional shareholders and broad-based shareholders here in the U.S., alongside the dividend, which I think will open us up to a broader, you know, ownership base.
That's great. Eric, that wraps up the live feedback from the webcast. Thank you everybody for your questions through the webcast and the analyst questions as well. We will be available for any follow-up if required. You can reach out to us through the Baytex investor inbox, and we will get back to you. Thanks, operator. Thanks everyone for participating in our conference call. Have a great day.
This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.