CARNEGIE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Rice Team (Toby Z. Rice, Derek A. Rice, J. Kyle Derham and William E. Jordan), shareholders of EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT), today sent a letter to EQT shareholders seeking to correct a number of false claims that EQT has made in its efforts to mislead shareholders. The letter also addresses a number of personal attacks that EQT has made against the Rice Team.
The letter states that: “As large shareholders, we want what is best for EQT and for generating long term shareholder value. We firmly believe EQT has terrific assets that are not being operated well and are therefore not generating maximum returns for shareholders. Having operated most of these assets ourselves, we know exactly how to deliver full value for shareholders, and we believe our proposed slate of directors would enable us to do just that. We believe the choice for shareholders is clear.
Unfortunately for our fellow shareholders, it’s not just EQT’s share price that has sunk to new lows: EQT’s CEO and directors have resorted to making false, misleading and inaccurate claims about the health of EQT’s business, among other things. We believe the use of these deceptive, low-road tactics is another reason why current EQT leadership cannot and should not be trusted.”
The Rice Team believes that EQT shareholders deserve to have the facts and urges them to vote the WHITE universal proxy card for the Rice Team’s slate of director nominees. Shareholders are encouraged to review the letter and additional information at www.eqtpathforward.com.
In its FACT and FICTION letter, the Rice Team noted:
- Contrary to EQT’s claim that it is among the lowest cost producers in the Appalachian Basin, EQT is actually the highest cost operator in the Basin, according to financial analysts and EQT’s own investment banker
- EQT's claim that it has generated $300 million of free cash flow (FCF) over the last two quarters is disingenuous, because 40% of the FCF is from temporary midstream dividends from its stake in ETRN, which EQT has announced it will sell, and the rest is from EQT being forced to drastically reduce its growth capex
- EQT’s assertion that Rice Energy never generated free cash flow ignores the fact that EQT’s own estimates at the time of the merger indicated that Rice Energy was on a path to generate approximately $2.3 billion more upstream free cash flow on a standalone basis than EQT through 2021 because of Rice’s operating efficiency
- EQT’s claim of outperforming Appalachian peers since the new management team assumed control conveniently uses the spin-off date as its starting point, masking the greater than 30% decline in the stock price from the announcement of the new CEO through the completion of the spin-off
- EQT’s personal attacks on the Rice Team are an attempt to distract shareholders, when in fact, as one of EQT’s largest shareholders, the Rice Team is singularly focused on generating value for all shareholders and only got involved because many of EQT’s largest shareholders asked us to
- EQT’s claim that its Board and management team are “new” is undermined by the fact that EQT’s “new” executive team has an average tenure of approximately 9 years
WE URGE YOU TO VOTE THE WHITE UNIVERSAL PROXY CARD AND
VOTE FOR ALL OF THE RICE TEAM’S NOMINEES.
Additional information regarding the proxy contest, as well as the Rice team’s presentation outlining its plan for EQT and Board nominees can be found at www.eqtpathforward.com.
For questions about how to vote your shares, please contact our proxy solicitor, D.F. King & Co., Inc., at (800) 207-3159.