V&E and T&K Advise in $750 Million Acquisition

© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.By Natalie Posgate Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook (January 7) – SandRidge Energy, Inc. announced Tuesday that it is selling its Gulf of Mexico offshore and Gulf Coast assets to Fieldwood Energy, LLC, a Houston-based portfolio company of the New York private equity firm, Riverstone Holdings LLC. The sale, which involves $750 million in cash, also includes the assumption of a $370 million of abandonment liabilities. SandRidge will also retain a 2 percent overriding royalty interest in certain exploration prospects. Vinson & Elkins represented Oklahoma City-based SandRidge in the deal, with Houston partner Doug Bland and associate Elizabeth Radack as the lead attorneys. Others who assisted included Dallas partners Thomas Crichton and Todd Way and Houston associates Tan Lu, Daniel Hatch and Christopher Boling. Bland and the firm have some experience with representing SandRidge in energy transactions. In 2011, Bland represented SandRidge in two sale and joint ventures in the Missippian Lime: one worth $1 billion with Spanish energy company Repsol YPF, the other worth $500 million with South Korean investment firm Atinum Partners. Two in-house attorneys took the lead for Fieldwood’s representation: General Counsel Richard Black and Assistant General Counsel Tommy Lamme. They hired…