Paul R. Knowlton
Overview
Paul Knowlton is a corporate partner in the Houston office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Experience
Representative Matters
Since joining Kirkland:
- Allied Industrial Partners LLC in its strategic investment in Waste Eliminator, LLC, a leading regional provider of solid waste hauling, disposal and recycling services for commercial and industrial waste.
- Warburg Pincus, as lead investor, in the $320 million line of equity commitment for Viridi Energy, a full-service renewable natural gas (RNG) platform.
- Warburg Pincus and Chisholm Energy Holdings LLC in Chisholm’s $604 million divestiture of its Northern Delaware Basin assets to Earthstone Energy, Inc. (NYSE: ESTE).
- Alta Resources in the $2.925 billion sale of its upstream and midstream subsidiaries for cash and public stock consideration to EQT Corp.
- Warburg Pincus and LMCA in the launch of Full Sail IP Partners, an innovative brand acquisition firm.
- Warburg Pincus in its line-of-equity commitment to Aquila Air Capital, a specialty finance platform focused on commercial aerospace.
- Gas Innovations on a partnership with an affiliate of AEA Investors in connection with the formation of Meritus Gas Partners, a packaged gas distribution platform.
- Pinnacle Midstream II, a portfolio company of Energy Spectrum, on its new build Dos Picos Gas Gathering and Compression System in the Midland Basin, anchored by a long-term acreage dedication and gas services agreement with DoublePoint Energy.
- Riviera Resources, Inc. (OTCQX: RVRA) in the $111 million sale of its subsidiary, Blue Mountain Midstream LLC, to Citizen Energy.
- Affiliates of Magnetar Capital and GSO Capital Partners as lead investors in the simplification merger of EQM Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: EQM) and Equitrans Midstream Corporation (NYSE: ETRN) and the associated redemption and rollover into preferred equity at ETRN of $1.2 billion of the investors’ Series A Convertible Preferred Units of EQM.
- KKR in the formation of a partnership with Spur Energy Partners LLC to acquire large, high-margin oil and gas production and development assets across the Lower 48 and the subsequent acquisition of Permian Northwest Shelf assets from Percussion Petroleum LLC.
- BlackRock, GSO Capital Partners and Magnetar Capital as lead purchasers in the $1.2 billion convertible preferred equity investment in EQM Midstream Partners, LP, a growth-oriented master limited partnership operating in the Appalachian Basin.
- A subsidiary of EPIC Midstream Holdings, LP, a company managed by affiliates of Ares Management LLC, in its acquisition of the Robstown NGL fractionation facility and associated pipeline near Corpus Christi, Texas, from Southcross Holdings Borrower LP.
- Pine Brook Road Partners in its line of equity commitment to Ancova Midstream, LLC, an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based midstream development company focused on near-the-wellhead oil and gas infrastructure in the U.S. Mid-Continent.
- Huntsman Corporation in its acquisition of Nanocomp Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of carbon nanotube-based advanced materials.
- Private equity sponsor in connection with its investment into a joint venture with an undisclosed oil and gas company and the related $533 million acquisition of Devon Energy Corporation’s (NYSE: DVN) oil and gas properties in the Barnett Shale.
Prior to Kirkland:
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Represented the underwriters in Hess Midstream Partners LP’s initial public offering.
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Represented Spark Energy, Inc. in an offering of 1,610,000 shares of 8.75% Series A Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock.
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Represented the underwriters in Jagged Peak Energy Inc.'s initial public offering.
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Represented a privately held pipeline company in its private placement of $1.4 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes.
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Represented a private company in the in creation of an Upstream Energy and Production Company and contribution of assets.
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Represented Warren Resources, Inc. and its affiliates in its Chapter 11 cases filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
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Represented an industrial cleaning company in an equity recapitalization and debt refinancing.
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Represented Drake Alliance Corporation d/b/a The Drake Company in the purchase by Buckeye Corrugated, Inc. of all of the outstanding shares of common stock in The Drake Company.
Prior Experience
Associate, Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2015Texas
Education
- University of Texas at Austin School of LawJ.D.2015
- Trinity UniversityB.A., Historycum laude2012