Occidental-Anadarko Deal ‘Robbed’ Holders to Pay Berkshire: Suit

Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s board and leadership were hit with a Delaware lawsuit claiming its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.—in a deal backed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and fought by Carl Icahn—disenfranchised public shareholders, transferred their equity to Berkshire, and left the company unprepared to face the Covid-19 pandemic.

The transaction “may be one of the most ill-timed and ill-thought out mergers in recent history,” the partly redacted Chancery Court complaint says. “The increased debt load accompanied by the pandemic has led to a dramatic crippling of Occidental’s balance sheet.”

The Anadarko deal, financed partly with a $10 ...