Kimmeridge’s Dell Sees AI Fueling Overheated US Gas M&A Market

Frenzied bidding for US natural gas drilling sites is leading to overvalued deals as companies bet on rising exports and surging power demand from artificial intelligence, according to Ben Dell, co-founder of investment manager Kimmeridge Energy Management Co.

Assets up for sale are “all getting very aggressively bid,” Dell said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg News in New York.

Dell’s remarks come amid a wave of US gas deal activity as the US expands its export capacity and companies jockey to meet projected electricity demand from data centers. Earlier this year, hedge fund Citadel agreed to buy assets ...