I Feel Like I'm At Tara and The Carpetbagger Just Drove Away

Stay with me on this one because we are going to be playing connect the dots.

EQT Corporation is an integrated energy company with emphasis on Appalachian area natural gas production, gathering, processing, transmission and distribution. Additional information about the company can be obtained through the company's web site, http://www.eqt.com; Investor information is available on that site at http://ir.eqt.com.

EQT Corporation uses its web site as a channel of distribution of important information about the company, and routinely posts financial and other important information regarding the company and its financial condition and operations on the Investors web pages.

2011-01-04

PITTSBURGH & DENVER - EQT Corporation (EQT) (NYSE: EQT) and MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (MarkWest) (NYSE: MWE) today announced that MarkWest is acquiring EQT’s natural gas processing complex in Langley, Kentucky and an associated natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline for $230 million


EQT Corporation was approved for a $2,500,000 tax incentive from the Commonwealth of Kentucky on June 5, 2009.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

EQT Corp. reported a fourth quarter profit of $73.1 million, or 49 cents a share, up 32 percent from a year ago.

This I’m sure made some of the corporate honchos at EQT very happy.

Since the stock for EQT is currently trading for about $48 per share this would mean that Murry Gerber, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and chairman of the Executive Committee, would be holding about $48.5 million dollars in EQT stock. David L. Porges,
President and Chief Executive Officer, would be sitting on a little over $23 million. Martin A. Fritz, Vice President and President of Midstream and Philip P. Conti, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer only have to worry about $3.5 more or less of EQT stock.

Well the only thing to do when you are sitting on millions is to share that wealth.

Gerber was a $1,000 donor to both Steve Beshear and Ernie Fletcher. He has also sent $2,000 the way of Letcher, County Judge Executive Jim Ward. As a matter of fact Ward has also picked up a couple of grand from both Porges and Fritz as well as $2,000 more from other folks connected to EQT. According to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, Ward has got a total of $8,000 from the upper management of this Pennsylvania company.

EQT also owns EQT Gathering, LLC, which is registered with the Kentucky Secretary of State. It appears that the purpose of this company is to acquire Real Property by Land Condemnation.

Defendants: A Tract of Property Situated in Letcher County, Kentucky, Corresponding To Property Tax Map Number 052/016, 28.50 Acres (Parcel 72 and Access Road AR-12), A Tract of Property Situated in Letcher County, Kentucky, 150 Acres (Parcel 72B and Access Road AR-12), A Tract of Property Situated in Letcher County, Kentucky, Corresponding to Property Tax Map Number 052/002 (Parcel 82), A Tract of Property Situated in Letcher County, Kentucky, Corresponding to Property Tax Map Number 029/029, 19 Acres (Parcel 68), A Tract of Property Situated in Letcher County, Kentucky, Corresponding to Property Tax Map Number 029/030, 19 Acres (Parcel 67 and Access Road AR-4), A Tract of Property Situated in Letcher County, Kentucky, Corresponding to Property Tax Map Number 029/028, 243.73 Acres (Parcel 69A and Access Road AR-4, Access Road AR-10 and 66A) and A Tract of Property Situated in Letcher County, Kentucky, Corresponding to Property Tax Map Number 021/010, 93.29 Acres (Parcel 37)

Here are the dots.

1. EQT has a gas drilling and transport business in Eastern Kentucky.

2. EQT gets $2.5 million in tax incentives from Kentucky. The current Chairman of the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority is from Pikeville.

3. Some members of EQT management fund Kentucky politicians.

4. EQT sells the Kentucky operation.

5, EQT management gets rich(er).

6. And I’m not sure how this dot lines up with the others, but it is the big blue dot.

Lee T. Todd, Jr., Ph.D.

Chairman of the Compensation Committee and member of the Executive Committee, Dr. Todd has been president of the University of Kentucky, since July 2001; senior vice president, Lotus Development Corporation, June 2000 through May 2001.

So I just have one question. Why did we give these guys $2.5 million in tax incentives?

One Legislator is Paying Attention

This is one of those good news bad / bad news kind of posts.

The good news:

Representative Richard Corcoran, a Republican, Presbyterian, Attorney, who served in the Naval Reserve, has introduce a bill to stop the state from doing business with placement agents. If you have been reading this blog you know that the Kentucky Retirement Systems pays millions of tax payer dollars to placement agents. The bill is below.

The bad news:

Rep. Corcoran, represents the 45th House District in Florida. It’s too bad that Kentucky doesn’t have a single legislator with this guy’s smarts and guts.


A bill to be entitled

An act relating to placement agents; amending s. 215.47, 2 F.S.; prohibiting state investment funds from being used to pay the fees or commissions of placement agents; requiring the State Board of Administration to deal directly with private equity firms and companies issuing securities; providing an effective date.

WHEREAS, according to media reports, Florida's public retirement and pension system has invested approximately $2 10 billion in multiple private investment firms between December, 11 2009, and October, 2010, and

WHEREAS, placement agents, who serve as intermediaries to connect investment firms with state pension systems, often receive finder's fees of approximately 1 to 2 percent of the investment or even $1.5 million for their nominal services, which can result in higher management fees that are paid by the taxpayers of this state, and

WHEREAS, because placement agents are not hired or employed by the retirement and pension funds, the disclosure of who is involved in the transaction, what fees are paid, and what work is done to merit the fees is often obscure, and

WHEREAS, once placement agents were discovered to be involved in kick-back scandals involving public pension funds in other states, their practices came under scrutiny and even regulation, and

WHEREAS, an investigation into placement agents and state pension fund misconduct in one state has resulted in multiple guilty pleas and the recovery of more than $120 million for the state pension fund, and

WHEREAS, in light of these problems involving placement agents and public pension funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun requiring the registration of placement agents, and

WHEREAS, reputable national financial advisors have argued that there is no legitimate reason to employ the services of placement agents, and

WHEREAS, in the instances in which the State Board of Administration of this state made placement-agent pay a public record, it was discovered that placement agents, in seven transactions, received approximately $12 million or approximately 1.5 percent of Florida's investment of $825 42 million, and

WHEREAS, it is reasonably believed that all management fees that are paid to the private investment firm reduce the amount of return paid to the investor, who is the taxpayer of this state, NOW,

THEREFORE,

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1. Subsection (22) is added to section 215.47, 51 Florida Statutes, to read:
215.47 Investments; authorized securities; loan of securities.—Subject to the limitations and conditions of the State Constitution or of the trust agreement relating to a trust fund, moneys available for investments under ss. 215.44-215.53 may be invested as follows:

(22) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no portion of moneys invested under this section, including any portion used to pay an investment manager's fee, may be used to pay placement agent fees or commissions. As used in this subsection, the term "placement agent" means an individual who is hired by a private equity fund or company issuing securities for the purpose of finding people who are interested in investing in the fund or securities. In selecting and purchasing investments, the board must deal directly with the investment fund or company and not through a placement agent.

Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.