Plains Exploration & Production (NYSE: PXP) will become part of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX 3.90%) over the course of the next 11 days. Plains shareholders today approved their company's acquisition by Freeport in a deal expected to close on May 31.
The price of the transaction is $6.9 billion in cash and stock. Freeport has also pledged to pay Plains shareholders a special dividend of $3.00 per share in cash after the deal is completed.
Freeport's current stockholders will also be rewarded -- the company announced that it will hand out a $1.00-per-share supplemental dividend following the closing of the transaction. This is in addition to the firm's freshly declared regular quarterly dividend of $0.3125 per share.
