WildFire Energy I LLC, Houston, has agreed to acquire Hawkwood Energy LLC, Denver, for an attributable enterprise valuation of about $650 million.
Hawkwood holds liquids-weighted production of about 15,000 gross equivalent b/d spanning 160,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford basin of East Texas. The company entered East Texas in 2014 and acquired additional East Texas oil and gas assets from subsidiaries of Halcon Resources Corp. in 2017 (OGJ Online, July 1, 2014; Jan. 6, 2017).
The combined entity will retain the WildFire Energy name. Post-closing, the WildFire team will operate the assets. WildFire previously managed WildHorse Resource Development Corp. until its sale to Chesapeake Energy in 2019 for nearly $4 billion (OGJ Online, Oct. 30, 2018).
Backed with an equity investment from Kayne Anderson and WildFire Energy's management team, deleveraging is planned, and the company will pursue opportunities through the drill-bit and via acquisitions, according to a July 8 statement.
Following closing, Hawkwood's existing shareholders will retain about a 50% equity interest alongside about 50% held by WildFire's management team and Kayne Anderson.
