Nick Woodruff of RBC Richardson Barr, left; Jay Salitza of KeyBanc Capital Markets; and Stephen Beck of Stratas Advisors share a laugh during their roundtable discussion at the DUG Midcontinent Conference in Oklahoma City. (Source: Hart Energy)
How big does a company need to be these days to compete?
“We talked to a number of the hedge funds who said every one of the sub-$1 billion public companies should not exist,” said Nick Woodruff, managing director at RBC Richardson Barr during an M&A roundtable at the recent DUG Midcontinent Conference. “And, in fact, every one of the sub-$5 billion companies should not exist.”
That’s an exaggeration, he admitted, but scale is the preeminent theme among investors and members of the panel expect a slew of consolidations to take effect in the next two years.
