The end of August found oil and gas lawyers busy cranking out deals before the Labor Day weekend — and the unexpected wrath of Hurricane Harvey, which led to office closings and the flooding of thousands of homes in the Houston area.
Baker Botts, V&E Counsel on Forum-Global Tubing Hookup
Houston-based Forum Energy Technologies announced Monday its purchase of the remaining membership interests in Global Tubing from joint venture partner Quantum Energy Partners and management for $237 million, including 10 million shares of stock worth around $100 million.
Luckily, the deal was buttoned up Friday before the storm hit the Houston area, lawyers involved in the deal say.
Baker Botts advised Forum, whose general counsel John Ivascu led the deal internally.
The Baker Botts team was led by Houston partner Jim Marshall and included partner David Kirkland and associates Leslie Daniel, Jennifer Gasser, Ieuan List and Bill Pritchett, all out of Houston; Dallas partner Jennifer Trulock on labor and employment; Houston partner Gail Stewart and special counsel Chris Pratt on employee benefits; and Houston partner Robinson Vu and associate Lindsay Volpenhein Cutié on intellectual property. Attorneys in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office advised on tax and antitrust matters.
Marshall said he began representing Forum after its 2012 initial public offering, which Baker Botts handled. Those deals have included the company’s recent acquisition of Multilift but also Syntech Technology Inc., Dynacon Inc., Merrimac Manufacturing Inc., J-Mac Tool Inc. and the assets of Cooper Valves. He also worked on the formation of Forum’s joint venture with Quantam to acquire Global Tubing in 2013.
Vinson & Elkins assisted Houston-based Quantum, whose general counsel Jim Baird worked the deal internally. The V&E team was entirely based in Houston and included partners Keith Fullenweider and Creighton Smith and associates Robert Hughes and Aaron Carpenter on M&A issues; partners David Oelman and senior associate Scott Rubinsky on securities issues; and partner John Lynch on tax.
V&E has worked with Quantum before, including on its partnership with Tug Hill to buy up oil and gas properties in North America (led by Fullenweider and Smith). The firm also represented Quantum’s portfolio company, Sentinel Peak Resources, on its $592 million purchase of California oil and gas properties from Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Fullenweider and Houston partner Bryan Loocke led that transaction.
Fullenweider also advised Quantum on its $1 billion equity commitment to Linn Energy to fund oil and gas natural gas acquisitions back in 2015, along with partner John B. Connally. Linn filed for bankruptcy protection about a year later.
Analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt called Forum’s acquisition of the rest of Global Tubing “a savvy move,” saying it was meaningful for a company that has mostly done smaller deals through the oil and gas downturn. They added that it’s one of the company’s more attractive businesses, as coiled tubing manufacturing is already a consolidated market with National Oilwell Varco and Tenaris being the only other major North American players.
Paul Hastings Aids WaterBridge on EnWater Purchase
The water business also saw some action, with Paul Hastings advising WaterBridge on its Aug. 22 acquisition of EnWater Solutions LLC for an undisclosed sum.
The Houston-based team included partner Steve Tredennick, associates Isaac Griesbaum and Ted Seeger and tax partner Greg Nelson. EnWater received counsel from Kelly Hart & Hallman’s Bill Kerr and David Kirk in Fort Worth.
Tredennick said WaterBridge CEO Steve Johnson — an ex-Nabors Industries executive — brought Paul Hastings in to work on the matter. The firm has been representing the company since last year, when Rick Burleson joined the firm as head of the oil and gas practice after his eponymous firm shuttered. Burleson represented the WaterBridge management team when it formed the company in 2015 with Houston private equity firm, Five Point Capital.
EnWater, which is backed by Tudor, Pickering, Holt unit TPH Partners, is a water-gathering and disposal company that owns and operates saltwater disposal wells in and around West Texas’ Delaware Basin. It plans to expand its existing gathering business into a full-cycle, closed-loop water infrastructure system that offers regional producers an integrated, all-in-one offering of water supply and management solutions.
V&E Counsels NCS Multistage on Spectrum Tracer Acquisition
Vinson & Elkins also advised Houston-based NCS Multistage Holdings on its acquisition of Spectrum Tracer Services, a deal that was announced Wednesday for $80 million in cash and stock.
The Houston team was led by senior associate James Garrett and Yong Eoh with assistance from Larry Nettles, Stephen Jacobson, Sean Becker and Jason McIntosh.
Johnson & Jones partners Andy Johnson and Randy Shorb in Tulsa assisted Oklahoma-based Spectrum, which used Piper Jaffray unit Simmons & Co. International for financial advice.
NCS went public just this past April raising $162 million with Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ New York office counseling it and Baker Botts assisting the underwriters (Kirkland and Marshall).
Robert Nipper, CEO of publicly traded NCS, said in a statement that Spectrum’s diagnostics services will help its customers optimize their oil and natural gas well completions and field development strategies.