Kirkland Counsels Ascent on Equity Raise and Acquisition of Natural Gas and Oil Properties

Kirkland & Ellis LLP advised Ascent Resources, LLC (Ascent) on its acquisition of certain natural gas and oil properties from Salt Fork Resources, a previously undisclosed seller. The Salt Fork transaction consisted of the contribution of all their Utica Shale assets to Ascent in exchange for common equity. In addition, there was a cash contribution to Ascent from Salt Fork’s private equity sponsor, Riverstone Holdings LLC. Together with Ascent’s acquisition of natural gas and oil properties from Utica Minerals Development, which closed on July 13, 2018, these transactions complete a series of previously announced acquisitions for a combined total adjusted purchase price of approximately $1.48 billion. Ascent’s full release is available here.

The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Bill Benitez, Chad Smith, Ryan Gorsche and Anthony Speier and associates Mark Kunzman and Tom Hillebrand; tax partner David Wheat; and capital markets partner Matt Pacey.