© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Sept. 15) – The majority of Texas capital markets lawyers are considering 2016 quite dormant for initial public offering filings by energy companies.
But not Doug McWilliams.
Though there have only been four such filings this year, the Houston-based Vinson & Elkins partner has been involved in all of them.
The most recent was Denver-based Extraction Oil & Gas, which filed its S-1 to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission Wednesday afternoon. McWilliams and fellow Houston V&E partner Julian Seiguer are serving as issuer’s counsel. Seiguer has been on three of the four energy IPO filings that have occurred this year.
Sean Wheeler of Latham & Watkins’ Houston office is representing the underwriters, which include Credit Suisse, Barclays and Goldman Sachs.
McWilliams and Seiguer are also representing Englewood, Co.-based Vantage Energy in its IPO filing, which was filed Tuesday. Houston partners Matt Pacey and Eric Willis of Kirkland & Ellis are listed on the S-1 as counsel to the underwriters, which are also led by Credit Suisse, Barclays and Goldman Sachs.
The underwriter group also includes Citigroup; J.P. Morgan; Wells Fargo; Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith; Capital One; Deutsche Bank; KeyBanc Capital Markets; SunTrust Robinson Humphrey; Tudor Pickering; ABN AMRO Securities; Robert W. Baird; BOK Financial Securities; Heikkinen Energy Securities; and Williams Trading.
The second IPO filing of the year occurred last week. It was filed by Houston-based Noble Midstream Partners. The first was filed by Denver-based Centennial Resource Development.
The Noble Midstream IPO filing is still pending, though it will likely close soon; the company announced Wednesday the IPO pricing of 12.5 million common units representing limited partner interests that will be offered at $22.50 per unit. Centennial ditched its IPO filing after opting instead to receive a majority investment from Riverstone Holdings.
McWilliams and Dallas V&E partner Chris Schmitt led as issuer’s counsel for Centennial’s almost-IPO. McWilliams and Seiguer served as underwriter’s counsel for Noble’s IPO filing.
Andrews Kurth worked on the Noble IPO filing for the issuers, and Baker Botts represented the underwriters in Centennial’s S-1.
This week’s two energy IPO filings come at a time when the capital markets have remained rather stagnant due to low oil prices. Both debt and equity stock offerings – especially IPOs – screeched to a halt in the third quarter of last year as banks became leery of continuing to lend money to overlevereged energy companies. Data from The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker indicates that the first half of 2015 was seemingly a record-setting time period for capital markets activity – a period in which low commodity prices lingered while payments and project funding deadlines loomed for energy companies.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed at $43.58 Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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