© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(May 7) – The oil and gas subsidiary of Phoenix, Ariz.-based copper mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. announced Wednesday that it is selling $3.1 billion worth of its assets in the Eagle Ford Shale to a subsidiary of Canadian energy producer, Encana Corporation.
A Houston-based team of Latham & Watkins M&A lawyers, led by partner Robin Fredrickson, advised Freeport in the transaction. Fredrickson received assistance from partner Jeffrey Muñoz and associates Brock Naeve, Bryce Kaufman and Sheila Forjuoh.
Houston partner Tim Fenn and associate James Cole handled tax matters for the deal. Benefits and antitrust matters were taken care of by attorneys from the firm’s Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. offices.
In 2012, Latham advised Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Company when it was acquired by Freeport for $6.9 billion.
A team of Houston-based attorneys from Andrews Kurth represented Encana in the transaction. Energy M&A partner Stuart Hollimon led the team, which also included associates Joe Flack, Harve Truskett and Ali Farish.
Other Andrews Kurth attorneys involved included Houston partners Angela Richards and Chris Fenelon and of counsel Don Horton, Austin partner Lisa Shelton and Dallas partner Kay Lynn Brumbaugh.
Cyrus D. “Skip” Marter, Encana’s general counsel of the U.S. Division, led Encana’s internal transactional team for the deal. Previously, Marter has been the general counsel at Denver-based Forest Oil Corporation and a partner at Susman Godfrey.
Hollimon and a team of Andrews Kurth attorneys are representing Encana on another deal involving a $530 million sale of East Texas oil and gas assets to an undisclosed purchaser. The firm and Hollimon, a litigator as well as a transactional lawyer, have represented Encana in several oil and gas litigation matters over the past eight years.
After tax net proceeds take effect, Freeport estimates that the value of the deal will be $2.5 billion, the company said in a statement.
The acreage of the Eagle Ford assets Encana will acquire produced approximately 53,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2014 and has an estimated drilling inventory of more than 400 locations, Encana said in a statement.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2014 and has an effective date of April 1.
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