DECEMBERASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8Aunit of Tokyo Gas has decided to buy Texas-based natural gas producer Rockcliff Energy from private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners for $2.7 billion to expand its overseas business, it said on Saturday.The deal comes as part of the Japanese company's efforts to expand its North American shale gas opera-tions to meet the growing demand for natural gas as an energy transition fuel.Tokyo Gas, Japan's biggest city gas supplier, and other utilities are stepping up overseas expansion to counter falling demand in their domestic market. Japan has an aging population and a declining birthrate, while energy market reform has spurred competition among old-guard utilities.Under the deal, TG Natural Resources (TGNR) - 79 percent owned by Tokyo Gas - will buy all shares in Rockcliff Energy from Quantum Energy Partners. The deal is expected to close on Dec. 29, Tokyo Gas said.With the acquisition, TGNR's natural gas production will quadruple to 1.3 billion cubic feet per day from about 330 million cubic feet per day, making it one of the largest shale gas producers in Texas and Louisiana, according to Tokyo Gas."We expect our gas production will be more efficient after the acquisition as Rockcliff Energy's output area is located adjacent to TGNR's blocks," Takashi Nakao, senior general manager of global business development at Tokyo Gas, told reporters.The production is also close to new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals and other facilities expected to increase demand for natural gas in the future, Nakao said. On Dec. 18, IBM said it will buy enterprise technology platform Software AG for 2.13 billion euros ($2.33 billion) to bolster its artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud offerings. It will use its cash reserves to acquire Software AG and StreamSets software and web platforms.The platform provides data integration between application components, application programming interface (API) management, and other programs. AG Software is a majority-owned Silver Lake private equity firm."The opportunity to bring the StreamSets and webMethods teams together with IBM to innovate in building the future of hybrid cloud and next-generation AI solutions for the enterprise is uniquely compelling," Christian Lucas, chairman of the supervisory board of Software AG, said in a statement.IBM, nicknamed Big Blue, is an American multinational technology corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York and is present in over 175 countries. It specializes in computer hardware, middleware, and software and provides hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. It is the largest industrial research organization in the world, with 19 research facilities across a dozen countries, and held the record for most annual U.S. patents generated by a business for 29 consecutive years from 1993 to 2021.Software AG is a German multinational software corporation that develops enterprise software for business process management, integration, and big data analytics. Founded in 1969, the company is headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and has offices worldwide. NEWSROOMTOKYO GAS TO BUY ROCKCLIFF ENERGY FROM QUANTUM ENERGY PARTNERSIBM TO PURCHASE SOFTWARE AG'S ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY FOR $2.3 BILLION
< Page 7 | Page 9 >