Tapstone Energy Holdings, LLC (“Tapstone”) and its affiliate KL CHK SPV, LLC have entered into definitive agreements with Diversified Energy Company PLC (“DEC”) pursuant to which DEC will acquire Tapstone and substantially all of the assets of KL CHK SPV, LLC, which includes upstream assets, field infrastructure, equipment and facilities in the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma. A team from Akin Gump advised Tapstone in the transaction.
Pursuant to a strategic participation agreement with DEC, funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. will make a non-operated working interest investment in the acquisition. Total gross consideration is $419 million, subject to certain customary purchase price adjustments to the August 1, 2021 effective date.
The Akin Gump team was led by energy transactional partner Jessica Hammons and Dan Fisher, head of the firm’s special situations group. Additional members of the team included:
- corporate counsel Frankie Shulkin and associates Douglas Badini and Bailey Nicodemus
- energy transactional partner Cole Bredthauer and counsel Niki Roberts
- finance partner Matt Bivona
- tax partner Alison Chen, senior counsel Brandon Morris and associate Sangita Sahasranaman
- labor and employment partner Lauren Leyden and senior counsel Desiree Busching
- executive compensation and employee benefits partner Rolf Zaiss and counsel Stephanie Bollheimer
- environmental partner David Quigley and senior counsel Andrew Oelz
- antitrust partner Haidee Schwartz, senior counsel Paul Hewitt and associate Mitchell Khader
- London corporate partner Sebastian Rice and associate Lucy Jordan.
This is the most recent of a number of matters involving Akin Gump and Tapstone. The firm advised Tapstone noteholders in the company’s 2020 restructuring (learn more here), after which the firm became Tapstone’s outside corporate counsel. In addition, last year, a team from Akin Gump advised the company in stalking horse bid for certain assets of Templar Energy (learn more here).