Oneok CEO Pierce Norton Buys Up Stock

One big issue: Investors don’t like the deal. Another is that the value of the transaction has shrunk along with Oneok’s (OKE) share price, since the company is offering $25 in cash and 0.667 in Oneok stock for each Magellan unit. Barron’s thinks Warren Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.B), which owns pipelines, could put in a competing bid for Magellan.

On June 29, Norton paid $1.5 million for 24,607 Oneok shares, an average price of $60.96 each. He now owns 42,017 shares according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Oneok didn’t respond to a request to make Norton available for comment. He last bought Oneok shares on the open market in June 2022, when he paid about $500,000 for 8,975 shares, at an average price of $55.54 each.

In early June, Energy Income Partners, Magellan’s fourth-largest unitholder, said it opposed the Oneok deal. “[W]e believe the taxes paid by our funds and investors will exceed the premium offered by Oneok and any potential benefits from the merger,” EIP wrote in a letter to Magellan. “Moreover, we want to see Magellan remain as a stand-alone entity whose returns on invested capital are far superior to Oneok.”

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.