Randy Santa Ana

Kirkland & Ellis advised Civitas Resources (NYSE: CIVI) on two definitive agreements to acquire oil producing assets in the Midland and Delaware Basins of west Texas and New Mexico. The agreements were signed with affiliates of Hibernia Energy III, LLC and Tap Rock Resources, LLC, which are respective portfolio companies of funds managed by NGP Energy Capital Management, L.L.C., for total consideration of approximately $4.7 billion, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. Both transactions are subject to customary terms and conditions and are expected to close in the third quarter of 2023 with effective dates of July 1, 2023. Read Civitas Resources’ press release The Kirkland team advising on the Hibernia transaction was led by corporate and real assets partners Thomas Laughlin, Lindsey Jaquillard, Josh Teahen and Alia Heintz and associates Jack Chadderdon, Matt Gibson and Braxton Smith; capital markets partners Julian Seiguer, Bryan Flannery and Anthony Sanderson; debt finance partners Will Bos and Shan Khan; and tax partners Mark Dundon and Ryan Phelps; with support from corporate partner Doug Bacon; and real assets partner Anthony Speier. The Kirkland team advising on the Tap Rock transaction was led by corporate and real assets partners Thomas Laughlin, Allan Kirk, R.J. Malenfant and Randy Santa Ana and associates Caleb Martin, Skyler Sikes and Rizwan Popatia; capital markets partners Julian Seiguer, Bryan Flannery and Anthony Sanderson; debt finance partners Will Bos and Shan Khan; and tax partners Mark Dundon and Ryan Phelps; with support from corporate partners Doug Bacon and Josh Teahen; and real assets partners Lindsey Jaquillard and Anthony Speier.

Jun 20

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised MAS Energy, LLC, a leading developer, owner and operator of landfill gas-based Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) in the U.S. and Canada, and its affiliate Mas CanAm, LLC, in connection with the sale of 100% of Mas CanAm’s RNG development platform, including a portfolio of seven projects currently under construction or in development, to CIM Group. Read CIM Group’s press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Cy Jones, Rhett Van Syoc and Randy Santa Ana; debt finance partners Lucas Spivey, Kelann Stirling and debt finance associate Steven Keithley; and energy regulatory partner Drew Stuyvenberg.

Sep 12

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis counseled Global Infrastructure Partners on its investment in RIO Grande LNG, a joint venture with TotalEnergies (NYSE: TTE), NextDecade, GIC and Mubadala Investment Company. RIO Grande LNG will own and operate the first three liquefaction trains and related common facilities (Phase 1) of the multi-plant integrated natural gas and liquefaction and liquefied natural gas export terminal facility to be at the Port of Brownsville in southern Texas. The $18.4 billion project financing for Phase 1 is the largest greenfield energy project financing in U.S. history and underscores the critical role that LNG and natural gas will continue to play in the global energy transition. Read NextDecade’s press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partner Melissa Kalka and debt finance partners Rohit Chaudhry and Kelann Stirling; and included corporate partners Andy Calder, Allan Kirk, Patrick Moneypenny, Randy Santa Ana, Jennifer Gasser and Pat Corrigan; debt finance partner Sebastian Chan; capital markets partner Julian Seiguer; and tax partners David Wheat, Steve Butler and Joseph Tootle.

Jul 12

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis counseled Earthstone Energy, Inc. on its agreement to acquire Novo Oil & Gas Holdings, LLC, a privately-held Delaware Basin focused E&P company backed by EnCap Investments L.P., for $1.5 billion. Concurrently, Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NYSE: NOG), also counseled by Kirkland & Ellis, will acquire working interests equal to a pro-rata 33⅓ percent of the oil and gas assets of Novo for $0.5 billion from Earthstone, resulting in a $1 billion purchase price net to Earthstone for the retained 66⅔ percent interest. Consideration at closing will be subject to customary purchase price adjustments. The effective date for the Novo acquisition is May 1, 2023, and closing is anticipated to occur in the third quarter of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. Read Earthstone Energy’s press release Read NOG’s press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners David Castro, Jr., Cyril Jones, Lindsey Jaquillard, Chad Smith and William Eiland; with assistance from corporate partner Randy Santa Ana and associates Daniel Cadis, Jarrod Gamble and Jonathan Strom; debt finance partners Mary Kogut and Jordan Roberts and associate Lauren Elledge; and capital markets partners Bryan Flannery and Matt Pacey associate Erin Meziere.

Jun 15

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis counseled private equity funds Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners on their agreement to acquire Energy Exemplar, a leading global provider of energy market simulation software. With the backing of Blackstone and Vista, Energy Exemplar gains new resources to help accelerate growth and drive platform innovation in support of grid reliability and the energy transition. Energy market participants worldwide rely on Energy Exemplar’s platform to optimize decision-making across both new asset development and existing operations. Utilities, power producers, grid system operators, and others in the energy transition ecosystem use the software to forecast market operations, drive long-term investments, and optimize ongoing operations across their assets and systems. Read the clients’ press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Allan Kirk, Vlad Kroll and Randy Santa Ana, with assistance from corporate partners Rhett Van Syoc and Ari Levi; tax partners David Wheat and Joe Tobias; and antitrust & competition partners Mark Gardner, Jeff Ayer, Matthew Wheatley, Alasdair Balfour, Scott Scheele and Marin Boney.

Oct 31

1 min