Chesapeake to buy Southwestern Energy in $7.4 billion deal

The move extends a recent spate of multi-billion deals in the U.S. energy sector including Exxon Mobil's $60-billion Pioneer Natural Resources offer and Chevron's $53-billion agreement for Hess, as firms seek lucrative acreage to rebuild depleting assets. Chesapeake has offered $6.69 per Southwestern share held, representing a discount of about 3% to the stock's last close, according to Reuters calculation. Southwestern shares fell 4.5% in premarket trading.