ONEOK Buys Back 7.5-Million Shares

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The parent company of Oklahoma Natural Gas has bought back 7.5 million shares.<br/><br/>ONEOK officials said yesterday that the company repurchased the shares at an initial price of

Tuesday, August 8th 2006, 6:07 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The parent company of Oklahoma Natural Gas has bought back 7.5 million shares.

ONEOK officials said yesterday that the company repurchased the shares at an initial price of $37.52 per share for a total of $281.4-million. The company funded the repurchase with cash on hand.

The company's outstanding shares used to calculate earnings per share have been reduced by the number of shares repurchased and now stand at about 110 million shares outstanding.

In the agreement, ONEOK bought 7.5 million shares immediately from UBS Securities. UBS then borrowed the shares sold to the company and will purchase shares in the open market to settle its borrowings.

With the completion of the accelerated share repurchase plan, no shares remain available for repurchase for the company.