Akin Gump advised Diamondback Energy on a pair of transactions announced on July 21.
In one, Diamondback priced an underwritten public offering of five million shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $87 per share. The underwriters have an option to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares of common stock from Diamondback at the public offering price (less the underwriting discount). Net proceeds to Diamondback, after the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses, will be approximately $421.7 million or approximately $484.9 million if the underwriters’ option is exercised in full.
In the other transaction, Diamondback announced it had entered into a definitive purchase agreement with unrelated third party sellers to acquire additional leasehold interests in the Midland Basin for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $538 million, subject to certain adjustments. Upon completion, the acquisition will provide Diamondback with primarily operated leasehold interests, the majority of which are located in Texas’ Midland and western Glasscock counties. (more…)
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP announced today that Michael E. Niebruegge has joined the firm as a partner in its Houston, Texas office. Niebruegge focuses his law practice on corporate, finance, bankruptcy and workout matters, primarily in the mining and energy industries. His wide-ranging experience includes the representation of the leading global credit providers and financial advisors to oil and gas producers, refiners, midstream business, oil field service providers, and businesses and corporations engaged principally in service and extractive industries. (more…)
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP represented the lenders in connection with the senior debt financing for the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project, a groundbreaking $1 billion carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project that is expected to be the world’s largest facility using captured carbon dioxide from an existing power facility to assist in extracting otherwise difficult-to-reach oil.
A Milbank team led by Tokyo-based Global Project Finance partner Alec Borisoff advised the senior lenders, including Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Mizuho Bank, Ltd., who is backed by insurance provided by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). (more…)
Dentons announced today that Garreth Sarosi has joined the Firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice as a partner in the Dallas office. He arrives with more than a decade of experience handling complex IP litigation matters in multiple areas of focus, as well as managing antitrust compliance and government investigations, consumer policies, transactional due diligence, class action litigation and more. (more…)
Lyman Paden, who has more than 34 years of experience in representing borrowers and lenders in a wide range of financings, joined Baker Botts L.L.P. today as a partner in its Corporate Department. He will be based in the firm’s Houston office.
Paden’s primary focus is on commercial lending transactions, with broad experience in negotiating complex financial covenants and with loans involving a wide range of collateral. He has provided counsel to clients in asset securitizations, commercial paper back-up lines, municipal finance transactions and work-outs of troubled transactions. (more…)
On July 11, 2014, Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) announced that its board of directors approved the spin-off of Paragon Offshore plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble, through a pro rata distribution of an aggregate of 84,753,393 Paragon ordinary shares to the holders of Noble ordinary shares. Noble shareholders will receive one ordinary share of Paragon for every three ordinary shares of Noble held at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the record date of the distribution, July 23, 2014. No fractional Paragon shares will be issued; however, shareholders entitled to receive a fractional Paragon share in the distribution will instead receive the cash value of that fractional share. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to the spin-off, the distribution is expected to occur on August 1, 2014. Noble first announced its plan to separate Noble’s standard specification business in September 2013. Following the distribution of the Paragon ordinary shares, Paragon will be a separate, publicly traded company, and Noble will not retain any ownership interest in Paragon. Paragon has applied to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PGN.”
In connection with the spin-off, Paragon executed debt financings of approximately $1.73 billion, including a private offering of senior notes under Rule 144A and a term loan financing. Paragon also entered into an $800 million revolving credit facility. (more…)
A team of attorneys from Andrews Kurth LLP served as project development counsel to NRG Energy Inc. in the company’s joint venture with JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. to build the world’s largest post-combustion carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facility on an existing coal plant in Fort Bend County, Texas.
The Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project at the W.A. Parish Power Plant Facility will capture 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) from processed flue gas, or approximately 1.6 million tons of CO2 annually. The CO2 will be delivered through an 82-mile pipeline for enhanced oil recovery at the West Ranch Oil Field in Jackson County, Texas. The West Ranch Oil Field is estimated to contain more than 60 million barrels of oil, available through enhanced recovery operations. (more…)
Jones Walker LLP is pleased to announce that the firm is expanding in Texas with the addition of an office in Dallas. The office will be opened by Jones Walker partners Ben H. Harris, III, Michael Anthony “Tony” Shaw and Kevin O. Ainsworth, who will focus initially on existing asset recovery clients in the region.
Akin Gump served as legal advisor to London Broadcasting Company, a portfolio company of SunTx Capital Partners, in the sale of six of its television stations in Texas to Gannett Co., Inc. for $215 million. The deal closed on July 8, 2014. (more…)
Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. and Texas Industries, Inc. announced that the Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which Martin Marietta will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Texas Industries common stock in a tax‑free, stock‑for‑stock transaction valued at US$2.7 billion. Cravath represented Martin Marietta in connection with this transaction. (more…)
Mayer Brown, a leading global law firm, announced that Michael P. Lennon Jr. has joined the firm in Houston as a partner in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice and International Arbitration group. Previously, he was a partner with Baker Botts in Houston.
“Mike is an experienced arbitration practitioner and trial lawyer with an outstanding track record for handling a wide variety of arbitration and litigation matters, particularly in the energy, natural resources and construction sectors,” said Bill Knull, a Houston senior partner in Mayer Brown’s global International Arbitration group. “We are delighted to welcome him to Mayer Brown.” (more…)
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP is pleased to announce the addition of Alfredo Ramos as a partner in the Firm’s Houston office. Mr. Ramos joins the Corporate Practice Group, where he will focus on handling oil & gas and international matters.
Mr. Ramos joins Gardere from the San Antonio office of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry P.C., where he served as head of the Energy and Commercial Litigation practice areas. He provides extensive experience representing U.S. and Latin American clients of all sizes and throughout all phases of the acquisition and divestiture of mineral properties. He also regularly handles corporate banking transactions, preparing secured and unsecured commercial loan documentation. (more…)
