After a 23-month stint at Kirkland & Ellis, Samuel Peca is back at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, this time in its Houston office.
Peca is not listed on either Weil’s or Kirkland’s website, but his Linkedin page shows that he moved to Weil’s Houston office this month. A source at Weil confirmed he was back working at the firm in Houston.
Peca spent more than five years as an associate at Weil in Dallas before moving to Kirkland’s Houston office as an associate in July 2017. The Washington University-educated lawyer was promoted to partner in October 2017.
Peca advises private equity firms, private companies and public companies in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures in the energy industry. He is a past winner of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award and an Access to Justice Pro Bono Champion.
“Sam was a fine attorney and we wish him well on his return to Weil,” said Kirkland partner Andrew Calder, who leads the Houston office.
Peca has worked on some big deals for Kirkland, including TPG’s purchase of a majority stake in Tailwater Capital-backed Goodnight Midstream in March for $930 million.
In February, the attorney also advised Longhorn Midstream on its partnership with Old Ironsides Energy to pursue midstream development and acquisitions in the U.S.; and Sentinel Midstream on Texas GulfLink, a deepwater crude oil export terminal near Freeport and midstream infrastructure project being financed in partnership with Cresta Fund Management.
And in January, Peca was part of the Kirkland team that advised Dallas-based Discovery Midstream Partners II and Discovery Midstream Holdings II management on a $1 billion initial equity commitment from Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.
Last year, Peca worked with then-Kirkland partner Jonathan Castelan counseling Trafigura on a joint venture with Infraestructura Energética Nova to develop a refined products terminal and storage facility in Manzanillo, Mexico. Castelan lateraled to Latham earlier this year.
Peca also assisted Warburg Pincus on its $500 million equity commitment to Tall City Exploration III; Magnetar on its investment in DoubleEagle Energy; and EIG Global Energy Partners on a $500 million investment into USA Compression Partners to help it finance its acquisition of Energy Transfer Partners’ compression unit CDM Resource Management for around $1.8 billion.
While at Weil, Peca assisted Dallas and Houston partner Rodney Moore representing Discovery Midstream on its sale to TPG for an undisclosed sum; and counseling EnLink Midstream on its purchase of Tall Oak Midstream from EnCap Flatrock Midstream.
Peca also worked with Dallas partner Glenn West advising Kainos Capital on its sale of organic food brand Earthbound Farm to Deans Foods spinoff WhiteWave Foods for $600 million; and then-Dallas partner Jay Tabor assisting Kinder Morgan Energy Partners on its $5 billion purchase of Copano Energy (Tabor later moved to Gibson Dunn, from which he retired).
Other partners have left Kirkland since it opened its office in Houston in 2014. They include tax lawyer Chad McCormick, who went to White & Case last year; and capital markets partner Justin Hoffman, who went to Baker Botts, also last year.