© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Oct. 25) – Baker Botts on Tuesday announced its involvement in two acquisitions of assets in South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale and the Northeast’s Marcellus Shale.
Houston partner Gene Oshman led Carrizo Oil & Gas’ purchase of 15,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale from an affiliate of Sanchez Energy Corp. for $181 million in cash.
Carrizo plans to fund the acquisition through a public offering of common stock, which has already upsized to approximately $225 million. Oshman is leading the offering as well.
Houston associates Coleson Bruce, Ryan Staine and James Chenoweth advised on the Baker Botts acquisition team. Houston associates Travis Wofford, Ori Lev and Ruchira Podali assisted on the equity financing.
Carrizo General Counsel Gerry Morton and a team of in-house attorneys also played a significant role in the transactions. The in-house team also included Associate General Counsel Michael Kennington, Associate General Counsel & Corporate Secretary Marcus Bolinder and counsel Amy Schwarzbach.
Sanchez General Counsel Greg Kopel turned to Houston oil and gas partner David Elder of Akin Gump to lead Carrizo’s end of the deal. Elder received assistance on oil and gas matters from partner Shubi Arora, counsel Jhett Nelson, and associates Mary Lovely and Chase Armbrust. Tax partner Thomas Weir was also involved in the deal. All attorneys are based in Houston; Arora and Nelson also have offices in Akin Gump’s Abu Dhabi office.
Baker Botts also advised EQT Corp. in its agreement to acquire core acreage in the Marcellus Shale through three separate transactions for $663 million.
Two transactions comprised EQT’s purchase of 42,600 net acres and current natural gas production of approximately 42 MMcfe per day from Trans Energy and Republic Energy for $513 million.
In the third transaction, EQT agreed to buy 17,000 net acres from an undisclosed third party for $170 million. All three transactions are expected to close by the end of the year, and EQT will finance all of them with cash on hand.
EQT turned to Austin corporate partner Mike Bengtson of Baker Botts to lead all three transactions. Bengtson received assistance on the deal with Trans Energy from corporate partner Jim Marshall, tax partner Michael Bresson and corporate associate Justine Robinson in Houston and corporate associates John Kaercher and Robert Goodin in Austin.
Goodin also worked on the Republic Energy matter, as well as global projects associate Coleson Bruce in Austin and Houston tax partner James Chenoweth, who also advised on the third party matter.
Others advising on the third party matter included Houston global projects partner Jeremy Kennedy and associate John Craven, as well as Austin environmental partner Aileen Hooks.
Trans Energy turned to Houston partner Bill Nelson of Haynes and Boone to lead its portion of the deal. He received assistance from Houston partners Buddy Clark and Jeff Nichols and counsel John Menke. Others on the Haynes and Boone team included Houston partner Odean Volker, senior counsel Marc Folladori and associate Simin Sun; Dallas partner W. Scott Wallace; and an attorney in the firm’s New York office.
Republic Energy turned to Dallas partner David Drumm of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal to lead its involvement in the deal. Carrington Coleman partner David Heidenreich and associate Michael Lin also worked on the transaction.
© 2016 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
If you see any inaccuracy in any article in The Texas Lawbook, please contact us. Our goal is content that is 100% true and accurate. Thank you.