Shell buys US company East Resources for $4.7B

AMSTERDAM (AP) - Royal Dutch Shell PLC says it has agreed to buy East Resources Inc., a major owner of shale gas holdings in the United States, for $4.7 billion from private investors.

Shell says it will pay cash for the company, which is capable of producing the equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil per day in Marcellus Shale, which extends over large parts of the northeastern United States.

Shell said Friday it was buying the company from East Resources itself, from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and from Jefferies & Company.