Kirkland Advises Diamondback Energy on its Midland Basin Acquisition

Kirkland & Ellis counseled Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG) on its definitive purchase agreement to acquire all leasehold interest and related assets of FireBird Energy LLC in exchange for 5.86 million shares of Diamondback common stock and $775 million of cash. The cash portion of this transaction is expected to be funded through a combination of cash on hand, borrowings under the Company’s credit facility and/or proceeds from a senior notes offering. The cash outlay at closing is expected to be approximately $700 million due to the expected Free Cash Flow to be generated on the asset between the effective date and expected closing date late in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Read Diamondback’s press release

The Kirkland team was led by real asset M&A partners Anthony Speier, Chris Heasley and Fraser Wayne and associate Jarrod Gamble; corporate M&A partners Sean Wheeler and Cephas Sekhar; tax partner David Wheat; environmental transactions partners Jon Kidwell and Jennifer Cornejo; antitrust partner Carla Hine; executive compensation partner Rob Fowler; and labor & employment partner Christie Alcala.