© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(April 18) – A slew of Texas-based attorneys from four law firms worked on Blackstone Energy Partners’ $2 billion purchase of EagleClaw, the largest privately-held midstream operator in the Permian’s Delaware Basin in West Texas.
Midland-based EagleClaw turned to Dallas partner Edward Moore of Frost Brown Todd to lead its end of the deal.
Moore has represented EagleClaw since its inception, when it got backed by EnCap Flatrock Midstream in 2012 with an initial $100 million equity commitment. Since then, Moore has represented EagleClaw in its December 2014 purchase of Delaware Basin midstream assets from BHP Billiton and its August 2016 acquisition of PennTex Permian.
The Frost Brown Todd team for the current deal also included associates from the firm’s Pittsburgh and Nashville offices.
EnCap, which serves as EagleClaw’s financial sponsor, hired Thompson & Knight partner Sarah McLean to lead its end of the transaction. McLean, who divides her time between the firm’s Houston and Austin offices, also received assistance from Houston partner Todd Lowther, Dallas/Fort Worth partner Wes Williams, Dallas associate Nathan Meredith and Houston associate Monica Raspino.
Blackstone hired Houston corporate partners Keith Fullenweider and Bryan Loocke and associates Peter Marshall and Aaron Carpenter to handle its end of the deal. The V&E deal team also included tax partner John Lynch and finance partner Mark Brazzil.
Both parties turned to Houston bankers for financial advice. EagleClaw hired Peter Bowden, co-head of energy investment banking at Jeffries. Blackstone hired Morgan Stanley’s Trevor Heinzinger and Intrepid Partners founder Skip McGee.
Jeffries hired Houston Latham & Watkins partner Michael Chambers and an attorney from the firm’s New York office to lead its involvement in the deal. Other Houston attorneys on the Latham deal team were counsel Pamela Kellet and associates Annie Kwan and Alice Parker.
Before beginning his energy banking boutique, Inteprid Partners, McGee was a top executive at Barclays and Lehman Brothers. He has advised on numerous mega-deals, including Energy Transfer’s proposed $38 billion acquisition of Williams, Kinder Morgan’s $21 billion acquisition of El Paso Energy and Exxon Mobil’s $41 billion acquisition of XTO Energy. Thus, he has previously worked with some of the lawyers on the current transaction numerous times before.
Fullenweider and Lynch were on the Kinder Morgan-El Paso deal. Though led by different partners, the Latham deal team on the proposed ETE-Williams merger included Kellet.
The all-cash transaction is expected to close by the end of July. Once it does, EagleClaw will retain its name and operate as a Blackstone portfolio company.
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