Magnolia Oil & Gas said Monday that it has acquired WildFire Energy in a deal worth for about $4.06 billion in stock and the assumption of debt. Kirkland & Ellis provided counsel to Magnolia, and Troutman Pepper Locke advised WildFire.
The Kirkland team was led by Houston partners David Castro Jr., R.J. Malenfant and Kyle Watson.
The Houston energy company said in a news release that it will give WildFire owners about 32.2 million common shares, assume $600 million of notes due in 2029 and fund the balance of the acquisition with cash or new debt or equity. Magnolia’s New York Stock Exchange-listed shares were trading at about $26 on Monday afternoon.
“With more than 1.25 million net acres and upside development opportunities across multiple benches including the Austin Chalk, Eagle Ford and Woodbine, this transaction creates a premier position in South Texas by combining two high-quality and complementary assets near Gulf Coast markets which offer premium pricing for our products,” said Magnolia CEO Chris Stavros. “The combination of our technical understanding of Giddings and our strong balance sheet put us in a unique position to execute on larger M&A in our own backyard.”
Magnolia said the acquired assets include 810,000 acres in Giddings and contribute about 53,000 Boe/d of production.
Based in Houston, WildFire Energy was founded in July 2019 with $1 billion from Warburg Pincus, Kayne Anderson Capital and other investors.
Magnolia said it received financing from JPMorgan Chase Bank, Citigroup Global Markets and Wells Fargo, and the company also increased a credit facility to $2 billion.
WildFire retained Jefferies and BofA Securities as financial advisors.
Kirkland Texas lawyers who also provided counsel include Jacob Volz (Houston), Greg Kerr (Houston), Alex Lippert (Houston), Mohammad Alkadhem (Houston), Maysa Alqaisi (Dallas), Matt Kim (Houston), Curtis French (Houston), Rachel Miller (Houston), Michael Rigdon (Houston), Robbie Dillard (Houston), Samiya Javed (Houston), Kate Wilson (Dallas), Will Burdick (Houston), Lauren Jones (Houston), Mary Kogut(Houston), Grant Gannon (Houston), Kaitlin Schock (Houston), Hope Rovner (Dallas), Vincent Christianson (Dallas), Anu Reddy (Houston), Brett Ackerman (Dallas), Max Anderson (Dallas), Isaac Lawrence (Dallas), Joe Tobias (Dallas), Sarah Gehr (Austin), Damien Lyster (Houston), Ethan Borrasso (Houston), Robert Fowler( Houston), Rebekah Kostelak (Houston), Kristen Tyler (Houston), Christie Alcala (Houston), Kaitlyn Hodgman (New York), Tabitha De Paulo (Houston) and Will Atnipp (Houston).
Other Kirkland lawyers include Jerome Fuller (Nashville), Anna Geml(Chicago), Roberto Miceli (Chicago), Adam Amdur (New York), Paul Tanaka (San Francisco/Houston), Maureen O’Brien (Chicago), Michael Thorpe (Chicago), Chuck Boyars (Washington, D.C.) and Mackenzie Pike (Chicago).