Almost like clockwork, Chesapeake Energy (CHK: chart, web, Y!) offered up $1 billion worth of new shares after the markets closed on Wednesday.  The stock is sitting down 21% this morning after shareholders absorb their latest dose of dilution.

I can’t say I’m surprised, as Chesapeake has been forced to come up with cash anyway the company can.  It really all started when CEO Aubrey McClendon was forced to liquidate his entire portfolio of Chesapeake shares after a brutal margin call.  The $1.6 billion paper loss due to hedged oil and gas that was below market prices in the second quarter didn’t help either.

This is a company that is on thin ice financially, and in this writers opinion, it’s due to poor management of debt and over extension of credit.  Sound familiar?

That’s not to say Chesapeake will go under, and it would look like a decent takeover candidate if it weren’t for the debt structure.

I see the company continuing to sell off nonproductive assets through 2009, and depending on how the energy markets play out over the next 8 months, the company will flounder to stagnation by the beginning of 2010.

Energy, Finance, Investing Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy, CHK, debt, dillution