United Gas Corporation was a major oil company from its inception in 1930 to its hostile takeover and subsequent forced merger with Pennzoil in 1968.

[6][7][8] Headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana, United and its major subsidiaries, Union Producing Company, United Gas Pipeline Company, Atlas Processing, UGC Instruments, and Duval Mining, performed integrated exploration, production, processing, and distribution of oil and natural gas and other raw materials.

[9][11][16][17][18] The dramatic takeover, accomplished by a cash tender offer using vast amounts of borrowed money and United's own assets as collateral, was the first of its kind in the United States, and, together with the subsequent asset spin-off, the event is a classic example of the leveraged buyout and corporate raid and resulted in numerous lawsuits and regulatory investigations.

[1] By 1916, McGowen, still operating on behalf of the Palmer Corporation, secured control of a number properties in the newly discovered Monroe Gas Field.

United's purchase included miles of pipeline stretching from Jackson, Mississippi to Mobile, Alabama, with an extension to Pensacola, Florida under construction.

[27] The company also developed extensive mines and technology through its subsidiaries, Duval Corporation, a miner and miller of copper, potash, sulphur and other materials, and UGC Instruments, a manufacturer of electronic devices primarily used in the oil and gas industry.

In the 1930s, an FTC investigation revealed that four dominant holding companies controlled 60% of natural gas produced and 58% of total pipeline mileage.

[30] To provide raw supplies to its markets, United and its pipeline contractors pioneered the construction of natural-gas gathering lines across marshlands and open water.

[30] In 1941, United Gas and Houston firm, Brown & Root built the first large-diameter submarine pipeline, spanning 25 miles across Lake Pontchartrain, near New Orleans.

[30] The Post-World War II era saw United's rise accelerate, as regional markets for cheap natural gas appeared and expanded.

[32] In that same year, several United employees left the company to form Texas Eastern Transmission Co., including manager, Reginald Hargrove, general counsel, George Naff, and assistant chief engineer, Baxter Goodrich.

[33] Texas Eastern became a dominant pipeline player in its own right, and, in exchange for releasing the employees, United was guaranteed another market for its gas production and supply.

[9][11][18][42] In researching the company, Liedtke also discovered United's vast oil reserves and large deposits of copper, sulphur, and other materials.

[7] Liedtke, according to The Wall Street Journal, waited until the day before Thanksgiving to make the unwelcome offer, "knowing that many United executives would be off for the long weekend duck hunting".

[18] The takeover was cited as a textbook example of a corporate raid and was described as "an aggressive Lilliputian capturing a sleeping giant," and "the minnow swallowing the whale.

[45] Its 1970 sales hit $700 million, up tenfold from 1963, and its Duval Corporation mining subsidiary went on to make a series of quick strikes in sulphur, potash, copper, gold, and silver.