Good morning. My name is Michelle, and I will be your conference operator for today. Welcome to Chevron's conference call to discuss and announce the acquisition of Anadarko. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference call, please press star and then zero on your touchtone telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference call over to the chairman and chief executive officer of Chevron Corporation, Mr. Mike Wirth. Please go ahead.
Okay. Thanks, Michelle, and welcome, and thanks for joining us this morning, everybody on the call. I'm joined on the call this morning by Al Walker, chairman and CEO of Anadarko. Also with us is our new CFO, Pierre Breber, and Wayne Borduin, our general manager of investor relations. Before we get started, please be reminded that this presentation contains estimates, projections, and other forward-looking statements. Please review the cautionary statement and important information for investors and stockholders on slide two. Moving to slide three, I'm pleased to announce that Chevron has entered into a merger agreement with Anadarko. This is a compelling transaction that reinforces Chevron's commitment to win in any environment. I'd like to begin with four key messages about this deal. First, Anadarko's high-quality assets further strengthen Chevron's advantage portfolio. Are a natural fit. We know how to do Permian, Deepwater, and LNG.
Second, this transaction is aligned with our priorities and reinforces our guidance shared last month. It further strengthens our low-risk, short-cycle capital program, maintains a low cash breakeven, and preserves a strong balance sheet. Third, this deal will enable additional portfolio high-grading and cost reductions as we streamline the combined organization. We'll be leaner and more focused. Asset sale proceeds will help reduce debt and return more cash to shareholders. Fourth, most importantly, this deal adds value to Chevron shareholders. The expected capital and cost synergies make this deal accretive on all important per-share metrics one year after closing. Moving to the next slide, I'd like to highlight some of the key transaction terms. Anadarko shareholders will receive approximately 0.39 Chevron shares and $16.25 in cash per share of Anadarko. This is a 75-25 equity debt split.
The total consideration is $65 per share based on Chevron's closing price yesterday. I believe this is a great deal for shareholders of both companies. Anadarko shareholders are receiving an attractive premium and will have continued investment in the business through ownership of Chevron shares. We believe the time is right for this deal. We'll realize additional value as we deliver cost and capital synergies, accelerate development of Anadarko's great Permian acreage, further streamline our cost structure and high-grade our portfolio. Turning to slide five, the value of the deal is supported by Anadarko's large and attractive resource position. The cost and capital synergies created by this combination. Anadarko has done a great job in high-grading their portfolio to a high-quality resource base with more than 10 billion barrels in strong positions in unconventional basins, offshore, and LNG.
At less than $2 per barrel of resource, the price is attractive. We expect to deliver $1 billion in before-tax cost reductions from both deal synergies and additional efficiencies in Chevron. We also expect to reduce capital expenditures by $1 billion per year through eliminating overlap, capturing efficiencies, and high-grading the portfolio. We anticipate achieving the run rate on both capital and cost synergies within a year of closing, which is expected in the second half of this year. Because of our confidence in realizing these benefits, we'll raise our share buyback rate to $5 billion per year upon closing. As a result, we expect this deal to be accretive to both earnings and free cash flow on a per-share basis one year after close at a $60 Brent price. Bottom line, we're committed to delivering value from this deal to all shareholders.
Moving to slide six, our cost reductions are coming primarily from deal synergies, redundant activities in corporate functions and business units where our operations overlap. In addition, our target includes further efficiencies from Chevron's operations. The combination of asset sales and integration of Anadarko makes this the right time to further lean out our organization. On the capital side, we intend to accelerate activity in Anadarko's Permian acreage. We can fully fund and develop this attractive high-return acreage with our efficient well factory and basis of design, accelerating pad drilling, which Anadarko has just begun. We plan to more than offset the growth in Permian capital by eliminating overlap in corporate capital, rationalizing exploration spend, and further high-grading so that we fund only the very best, most economic projects. The net result is anticipated to be a $1 billion reduction of the combined capital spending of the two companies.
We expect the combined company's production growth rate during the next five years to be consistent with our prior guidance, 3%-4% per year, including reductions from asset sales already out in the public domain. Turning to slide seven, we remain committed to high-grading our portfolio. We expect to achieve our current asset sale target by the end of this year, one year early, and we're establishing a new target of an additional $15 billion-$20 billion of asset sales between 2020 and 2022. This will further focus our portfolio on the strongest assets. It will enable even more cost and overhead efficiencies, as I already mentioned. It rebalances capital structure, reducing debt and increasing cash returns to shareholders. The financial benefit of these asset sales will be further accretive to our per share performance. Turning to slide eight.
The addition of Anadarko's high-quality assets strengthens Chevron's advantage portfolio. It makes us even better. As you can see from the map, Anadarko's assets are a great strategic fit with Chevron, particularly in the U.S. It's a focused, liquids-weighted portfolio with a capital profile driven by short cycle spans with low cash breakevens. Anadarko has talented employees who will strengthen our workforce. This portfolio fits our core strengths in shale and tight, deepwater, and LNG. Chevron, through scale, operating know-how, and financial strength, will get the most out of Anadarko's world-class assets. We are uniquely positioned to capture more value out of this combination. On slide nine, you can clearly see how the addition of Anadarko makes our leading position in the Delaware Basin even stronger. Our combined acreage creates an unmatched position in the core of the core.
It results in a 75-mile wide, highly contiguous corridor where we can drill, develop, operate, and build infrastructure, all with great efficiency. We plan to accelerate the development of Anadarko's acreage, increasing the number of rigs with pad drilling, long laterals, and our latest paces of design. We'll also leverage Chevron's digital tools and suite of technologies to improve recovery, lower costs, and increase efficiencies. These are highly attractive investments with strong economics. Great rocks, liquids-weighted, and with a lower royalty post-closing as a result of Chevron's minimal ownership in part of Anadarko's acreage. Getting more out of the Permian sooner is an important value driver. If you liked Chevron's Permian position before, you'll like it even more now. Moving to slide 10. Another attractive position in Anadarko's portfolio are the shale and tight assets in the DJ Basin.
This advantaged acreage is low royalty, extensively coiled up, and liquids rich. The returns in Anadarko's DJ Basin operations have increased with lower costs, increased lateral lengths, and higher EURs. We really like what they've done here and believe we can leverage our operating model and proprietary technologies to maintain and perhaps improve performance. Another area of alignment is the Gulf of Mexico, where our positions are highly complementary. Both companies have been leaders in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico for years, and this acquisition increases our operated platform count nearly threefold from six to 16. This deal brings together the third and fourth largest producers in the Gulf. This extensive infrastructure, combined with advances in subsea technology, is expected to further enable even more capital-efficient tieback opportunities, driving strong cash margins and higher project returns.
With greater scale and improving technology, we believe we can get more out of the combined assets in the Gulf of Mexico. Moving to slide 12. Anadarko has a number of other great assets. The Area 1 opportunity in Mozambique is particularly exciting, with one of the largest discovered gas resources in the world. We believe the project team and plan of development are well-positioned for success. With nine and a half million tons per year of contracted LNG, this project is fast approaching FID, a timeline we fully support. Mozambique LNG is expected to lead to stable and long-lived cash flows in a timing where its first production fits nicely in Chevron's production outlook. We look forward to working with the host government, community, and commercial partners as the project advances.
Western Midstream is a successful midstream company, a strong pipeline operator whose assets are well-aligned with our upstream positions and are a key enabler as we further accelerate development in the Permian. Producing assets in Algeria and Ghana generate strong cash flow and provide a quality addition to our base business. We look forward to building strong relationships with both partners and governments in each of those areas. Moving to the final slide, I want to return to the messages from our investor day a few weeks ago. Our story remains unchanged. We have an advantaged portfolio with strong cash flow, a strong balance sheet, low breakevens, and a disciplined capital allocation strategy that delivers superior cash returns to shareholders.
The guidance provided today, $1 billion in annual cost savings, $1 billion in annual capital reductions, $15 billion-$20 billion in asset sales over 3 years, an additional $1 billion targeted in annual share buybacks, demonstrates our commitment to add value from this deal and enhance Chevron's value proposition to shareholders. I'm confident in our ability to execute this deal with excellence and quickly integrate Anadarko's operations in order to capture synergies and additional upside. Our company has done this in the past, and we'll do it again. Before I move to questions, I'd like to hand the call to Al Walker to make a few comments. Al?
Thanks, Mike. First and foremost, we believe this is a compelling transaction for our investors. Chevron, already a great company, and Anadarko with its people and world-class assets will form a powerful combination. Chevron culture is indeed exceptional. I greatly respect Mike and am committed to working with him to ensure a smooth and seamless transition for our people, our operations, and our investors. I believe this will be a very powerful combination for many years to come. Back to you, Mike.
Thanks, Al. We want to thank everyone on the call for your interest in Chevron and welcome your questions. Michelle, please open the line for questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have questions at this time, please press star one on your touch-tone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to remove yourself from the queue, please press the pound key. If you are listening on a speakerphone, we ask you to please mute your handsets before asking your question to provide optimum sound quality. Again, if you have a question, please press star one on your touch-tone telephone. Our first question comes from the line of Jason Gammel of Jefferies. Please proceed.
Morning, Jason.
Thanks. Congratulations on the transaction.
Thank you.
I guess, let me go straight to the Permian Basin. Clearly, it's a big driver on the transaction. You pointed out pretty long drilling inventory and with the low and no royalty acreage position that you have, can you talk about how this is value-accretive from an NAV standpoint? Are there some synergies that can be achieved just in terms of how you develop the acreage? Is it more about ramping up the pace of drilling? Anything else you could add there? Then, just the follow-up right away. I've asked you this before, how are you comfortable with the Permian becoming as a % of your overall portfolio?
Yeah, Jason, Anadarko's acreage and ours abut out in the Delaware Basin in particular. Their acreage is blocked up and really well-set for large-scale pad development. We've seen continued improvement in pad scale development performance at all attributes. Drilling, completions, recoveries, the efficiency of our infrastructure build-out. This gives us the ability in the core of the core, and I got to tell you, this is really in the sweet spot, to have a very large and even more contiguous area for development. This will accelerate production, it'll accelerate royalty, and we think that the combination of land position, the continued strong royalty position, and strong performance will just further deliver value in this high return, short cycle asset class.
It's not about getting bigger in the Permian, it's about getting better in the Permian, and we think this makes us even better in the Permian. Your second question is one that I think we'll be talking about over time. We've laid out our view on the Chevron portfolio alone of being at 900,000 barrels in 2023. Obviously, this will take that number up. I just remind you, this is short cycle. We're going to be cash flow positive next year. We're not changing that guidance. It's the highest return investment dollar that we can spend. The technology and performance improvement unlocks more and more recovery in these assets over time. It's low risk below ground, it's lower risk above ground than about anywhere in the world, and it's high return.
Having a great position in a low risk, high return basin that is short cycle is a really attractive thing.
Understood, that area will still be cash flow positive next year. Thanks, Mike.
Thank you, Jason.
The next question comes from the line of Alastair Syme from Citi. Your line is open.
Hi, everybody. Mike, sort of similar question. As you look forward to the disposal programs, you talk around, I guess this is the future shape of the business. Are you sort of focusing on the tail of the assets? Are you thinking about short long cycle mix? How does the disposal sit?
Yeah. I don't want to get too specific on that because we don't want to talk about those until we actually have specific transactions to discuss. This gives us strength on strength, and in our business, scale matters, low cost matters, and this gives us position to add scale in unconventionals, in further scale in Deepwater Gulf of Mexico. I talked about Mozambique, which is going to be a world-class LNG resource. These are positions that will have long lives, high cash generation, and deliver strong returns at scale. They'll be lower on the cost curve than the marginal projects and the marginal fields in the world. It really builds even greater strength into our portfolio. There's always a tail when you look at it. Even in a strong portfolio, some assets are stronger than others.
It doesn't mean they're bad assets, as we stay disciplined in capital spending, there will be assets that others will value and be prepared to invest in that might be lower in our investment sheet. Those are the kinds of things that we'll look at. Over time, we'll update you as we have specific transactions to discuss.
As a follow-up, can I ask a little bit about your thought process in defining this deal? You've been in the job about a year. Is it just you're sitting back looking at the relative execution between yourselves and all of your peers and saying, "Look, I think there's an opportunity to aggregate here." Is that a rough approximation?
Well, it's a resource acquisition business. Every year, we produce about 1 billion barrels of equivalent. You're constantly adding resource through exploration, through technology, and through transactions. We think the quality of these assets and the quality of the people and the opportunity set that Anadarko has assembled is exceptional. We think it's highly complementary with our capabilities and our existing operating theaters, where we have strong proven experience and track record. We've got good supply chains for materials and services, always driving to be more efficient. We think that when you're in a strong position, you're always looking to get stronger. This is a chance to move from strength to strength and really do things together even better than both companies were doing on their own.
Great.
Thank you.
Okay, Michelle, we're ready for the next question.
Your next question comes from the line of Sam Margolin from Wolfe Research. Your line is open.
Go ahead, Sam.
Thanks for taking the question. My first question is about Mozambique. You pointed out in the prepared remarks that the project has advanced quite a bit commercially. So, you feel good enough about those terms to take it in today. With Chevron there now, your portfolio is structured differently. Perhaps those terms might have been different if you were executing on that component the whole time. Do you have any inclination to come in and try to execute some kind of change to those terms, or are you happy with the way Mozambique is structured commercially today?
We're happy with the way it's structured commercially today, Sam. Anadarko's done a really nice job with this, and Al, his team, and it's a world-class team, truly a world-class team. We know some of their people and have known them for a long time. They've done a terrific job in bringing this project along and are making great progress. They've got significant terms of SPAs in place, and it's moving steadily towards FID, which we support. No, I'm not going to go back and try to revise history. This is a great project that is moving towards execution, and we're strongly supportive of it.
Okay. Thanks so much for that. Then just on broader capital allocation, we have the buyback upsizing here. Contextually, am I on the right track if I think of this as pre this merger, your buyback was created under the framework as you did want to preserve some capital for resource acquisition, as you point out. Now, even if the broader direction of free cash flow generation is not quite up and to the right the way it is. Although this deal looks accretive, I'm not saying that it's not. My point is that you can actually deploy more surplus capital, sort of as a percentage of that surplus towards capital allocation because you've satisfied your resource acquisition needs for the near term. Am I thinking about that correctly?
Yeah, let me try to respond, and if I'm not hitting what you're asking, Sam, let me know. Our financial priorities haven't changed. The dividend is priority one, and sustaining and growing that dividend is job one. The second is to reinvest in the business, and that can be organic or inorganic reinvestment to ensure we've got good, strong cash flow generation capabilities well into the future. The third is to maintain a strong balance sheet, and then the fourth is to return cash to shareholders through share repurchases. Prior to this announcement, we were doing all four of those. Following the close of this transaction, we will continue to be able to address all four of those priorities and in a strong enough position that we're upping the share buyback because the cash flow accretion on this is good. The cash flow accretion is pre-asset sales.
As you look at the asset sale contributions, those make the free cash flow accretion even stronger. We'll be able to satisfy our full priorities, but they are unchanged.
Yeah. The only thing I'll add to Mike is he emphasized it's free cash flow accretive currently, though, without asset sales, even more so with asset sales. We are issuing some shares. We wanted to keep the cash yield to shareholders at least as good or better. We're upping the share buyback post-closing by 25% to reflect our confidence in the ability to achieve the synergies, achieve the accretion, and reward our shareholders.
Thanks so much.
Thanks, Sam.
Your next question comes from the line of Biraj Borkhataria from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Hi. Thanks for taking my questions.
Thanks, Biraj.
The second was on maybe just a general comment on entering Mozambique, Mike. Given some of the execution issues in Australian LNG on the greenfield projects, how do you think the company's positioned to execute on a fairly large-scale complex project such as Mozambique LNG? That would be the first question. Secondly, in the Permian, I think Anadarko has a decent stake in a midstream business. Can you talk about what the attractions of an increased stake in the midstream or your interest is to your Permian position going forward? Thank you.
Yeah. I'll start with Mozambique. You're right. Our Australian LNG projects are ones that they're now producing and producing well. Their execution was something that we could have done better at, and we've learned a lot of lessons from that. We've, through the diligence process, had a chance to look pretty closely at the kind of development, the contracting, and execution planning that Al and his team have done, and we're very impressed with it. In fact, our intent is to be sure that we preserve what we think is a strong team, a strong approach, and follow through on what they've laid out, and the intent is not to come in here and make a lot of changes.
We do have lessons that we learned in building these kinds of plants that we'll want to be sure that we share as appropriate when we reach a point where that is appropriate. This is set up to be delivered at a very competitive cost, and we like what we've seen on all the engineering and development and execution planning. We would intend to see it through on the path that it's on, and only where we can add people with experience and perspective or maybe some advantage cost on certain goods that we might have matched contracts for where we could help the project be even stronger. We think that it's well-positioned for execution, and we think that what we've learned is both a little humbling and also valuable as we're involved in other projects.
The question on the Permian had to do with the midstream. For those that have followed us for a while, we've not established an MLP. We really didn't have the asset position to do so. What we've done is sold off what I would describe as our merchant midstream assets into a pretty strong MLP market and helped others grow their midstream MLPs. We've realized good value for the assets we've sold because we didn't have the footprint or really the kind of strategic imperative to do that. That said, Western is a good midstream company, and it's vital to both the Permian Basin and the DJ Basin. As we've seen, whether you're talking about oil last year or gas right now, access to high-quality offtake and midstream infrastructure is very important to realizing value out of these unconventional basins.
We like the midstream position, and we think it's very strategic relative to a stronger Permian and a new position in the DJ. We're looking forward to learning more about that business as it progresses.
Thanks, guys.
Okay, Michelle, we're ready for the next question.
Your next question comes from the line of Doug Leggate from Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. Your line is open.
Okay, good morning. Congratulations, guys, for older guys like me, I guess I would say, "What took you so long?" Congratulations. Couple of quick questions, if I may. Mike, the follow-up, I guess, to the last question was Anadarko's interest in WES. Is that core or non-core in the new combined business?
Well, I just tried to answer it. We see it as strategic and important for the ongoing development of both of those positions. Yeah, we like WES, and we think that we're trying to create access to markets, and it's a little bit of a different strategy than we have been pursuing because Anadarko had a different asset position and has done a nice job in building that. Yeah, it's strategic.
I guess I didn't want to keep pushing for an answer to that question. What I'd like to say traditionally was, I don't know if I want to opine on this, is that the market has failed for many, many years to recognize the ownership of the public equity value in WES. I think there's been a source of frustration for both investors and perhaps for management to the point where you sort of assume that maybe it's still kind of legal to have the Mozambique problem being solved. Should we make any consideration of WES as well, perhaps?
Yeah. I'm just going to say it from our standpoint. I'm not going to speculate on that at this point in time, Jarrod. Again, I'll let Al comment maybe on the historical context that you're referring to.
Thanks, Mike. Doug, I understand the question. I think from our perspective, we were never committed to selling down. We were never committed to not selling down. I think we always viewed it as an extremely good holding. You and I talked about that quite a bit. I think in the context of how Mike's looking at it, given that the company combined is so much bigger than Anadarko standalone, how Mike thinks about wanting to do this in the future is likely very different than what he would historically Anadarko might or might not do.
Okay. Thanks. Mike, just a quick one. Sorry, I don't know if you I'm actually in Europe right now. I don't know if this came through earlier or not, Mike, I think you'd mentioned one or two years morning about a breakup fee. Can you offer any kind of color or context? Because , obviously, your overlap is compelling, but we just want to make sure that we can take this one to the bank?
Yeah, that's a standard element of a merger agreement. I think when the agreement is filed and published, you'll see the details on that.
Okay. I think you described it as material. Is that what full term would be considered?
If I use that word, it's a standard. I mean, I think it's in the range of what you would expect to normally see in a deal like this.
Okay. Appreciate you taking my question, fellas. Thanks. We'll miss you all.
Your next question comes from the line of Jason Gabelman from Cowen. Your line is open.
Hi, guys. Congrats on the deal. I'd like to personally ask a question about the DJ Basin . I believe it's Anadarko's largest producing asset. There's obviously some regulatory headwinds there. Unclear what the permit outlook is for Anadarko's drilling positions post this year. Just wondering, Mike, how you view that asset and that asset's growth, and potential concern around that asset within the wider portfolio mix.
Yeah. No, we think it's a very good asset. As I mentioned, it's highly contiguous. They've got, as you know, Al and team have been very efficient in developing it, and we look forward to partnering with government officials and communities in Colorado to continue responsible, efficient, and safe development of that. I recognize the political and regulatory dynamic that has been out of the way there. We would engage within appropriate time with all the appropriate parties to be sure that we understand their expectations and that we operate responsibly which is what Anadarko has done, and we plan to continue to do so. We like the asset.
Okay, thanks. Thanks for that. Then, can you just go into a bit more detail about the potential tieback opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico? It looks like on that map there's quite a bit of potential. Is there anything specific that you could call out in the near term that you think will be immediately competitive with the other assets that you're spending money on right now? What does that do in terms of phasing for the longer cycle projects that you've previously called out, like Anchor and Whale? Thanks.
Yeah. Deepwater asset class, and specifically the Gulf of Mexico, is very important to Chevron. We've got great positions as you put these things together in Grand Canyon. As you put two large producers together and the extensive infrastructure that we see there, it creates terrific opportunities. The Gulf of Mexico has delivered strong cash margins and along with advances in subsea technology that will enable longer tiebacks, this creates more reach for us and more scale to get more of these assets. I think we'll update you in time with more specifics around tieback plans. And we have some very nice discoveries out there. You mentioned Tigris Whale. We've also got Ballymore. That all are very attractive and are being advanced right now through the development process.
We'll see, I think, very efficient and high return tiebacks and also likely some ratable greenfield developments where the economics are viable, and we can get the cost and the economic equation right.
Thanks, Jason.
Great. Thanks. I meant to say Anchor, not Tigris. Sorry about that.
Your next question comes from the line of Harry Mateer from Barclays. Please ask your question.
Good morning. My first question, maybe I'll just flip to the one from the interim questions around that we got earlier. Historically, there were a number of benefits to having an embedded midstream company, some are operational, which I think you spoke to in terms of how strategic it is to the permitting on the DJ. Some are also financial. The financial benefits in recent years have been more negative for companies than companies given a higher cost of capital. My question is, how do you think about the value of pursuing midstream development through WES Balance Sheet as opposed to doing it at obviously a much lower cost of capital entity like Chevron?
Yeah, I'll let Pierre speak to that.
Yeah, look, Mike addressed that it fits well with the upstream positions, and you're absolutely right about different credits. We're committed to having a strong balance sheet with a double A credit. That changes how you look at that financing through Anadarko and the midstream company. It comes with a lot of capability. It comes with a lot of connections to our business. As Mike said, it's a business that we did not pursue, and we didn't have the assets to pursue Anadarko. They've done a nice job to build up that business and to have an attractive value proposition. We intend to work with it and manage it going forward for the benefit of their shareholders and ours.
Okay. Thank you. Next question. Could you talk a little bit about how you expect to treat the debt of Anadarko post-closing? I believe Chevron is going to eventually guarantee the debt of Unocal. I'm just wondering whether you plan to formally guarantee it or any color you could provide there would be helpful.
Well, we're going to assume the debt. It's a share deal, the debt will come with the transaction. That's why the enterprise value is what you saw in the press release. We're just saying we're committed to maintaining a strong balance sheet. We don't have a hard target on the debt ratio. It's an outcome of a number of factors. Again, a range of 20%-25% for Chevron post-transaction, which will include the assumed debt, is a good range. We'll start a little bit outside of the range. With the free cash flow accretion without asset sales, when you add on the asset sales, we'll be generating excess cash, which will allow us to get back into that range and increase our buybacks, as we've said.
Thank you.
Thanks, Harry.
Your last question comes from the line of Vijay Hiken from Hiken Energy. Please ask your question.
Good morning, guys, and look forward to getting to know Chevron better. Talking about the overlapping assets and then in Mozambique, how do you think about the capitalization of G&A savings and just the lower cost of capital for these mega projects versus what Anadarko's actual capital was in project management?
Yeah, look, this is Pierre again. That's part of the rationale of the transaction. I think Al said it also. We're a natural owner for these assets, in particular elongated assets, which tend to go to a stronger credit like we are. Really, our portfolio is a lower risk portfolio overall. The majority of the capital, as Mike has said, is in more flexible, more ratable projects. It is a big scale position as we talk about the Permian, as Mike said, the shale game is a scale game. Our capital is a strength, I think, across all asset classes, and enables us to do some things together that we couldn't do individually.
Congratulations on to Al. Thanks for taking my question.
Okay. Thanks very much. I am told that is the last question that is in the queue. We wound up a little earlier than we thought. I will thank everybody for dialing in, and appreciate your interest in both of our companies. Al and I are committed to a smooth integration and continued value creation for all shareholders. Have a good weekend, and we'll talk to you all soon.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect.