Matt Chambers From: The Australian August 22, 2011 12:00AM

BHP Billiton has completed its $US12.1 billion bid for US shale gas producer Petrohawk, securing 97.4 per cent of the target's shares in the miner's biggest acquisition.
BHP is cleared to spend up to $US80bn ($77bn) on the US shale gas market in the next 10 years and follows its $US4.75bn acquisition of Chesapeake Energy's Arkansas shale ground early this year.

Analysts said the move was essentially a bet that gas prices in the oversupplied US market would rise from depressed levels as demand in the world's biggest economy picked up.

BHP said it would begin a short-term merger under Delaware law soon, meaning all outstanding shares will be converted into rights to receive the bid price of $US38.75 a share. Petrohawk will become a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP.

Since the bid was made last month, Nymex natural gas prices have fallen 13 per cent to about $US3.90 a gigajoule, the lowest in five years.

Related Coverage.BHP finalises Petrohawk takeover But futures traders bet prices will have recovered to more than $US6 a gigajoule by 2016.

On top of about $US20bn spent on the Petrohawk and Chesapeake assets and paying off their debts, BHP has flagged about $US60bn of spending to ramp up the US shale assets over the next decade.

BHP has also nailed down $US7.5bn worth of unsecured debt facilities that it will use to pay for the acquisition and to pay off $US3bn of Petrohawk debt.

From a syndicate of 24 global banks, including the big four in Australia, BHP has been given a $US5bn, 364-day term loan facility and a $US2.5bn, 364-day multi-currency revolving loan facility.

Interest will be charged at between 0.5 and 0.9 percentage points above the London Interbank Overnight Rate.
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Buck