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KKR Acquires Samson Investment Company for $7.2 Billion

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KKRA Kohlberg Kravis Roberts led consortium has decided to buy one of the largest privately held energy companies in the United States, Samson Investment Company for around $7.2 billion.

The Samson deal led by KKR Financial Holdings LLC. (NYSE:KFN) will be one of the biggest leveraged buyout since the onset of financial crisis. The deal has been agreed upon the following terms that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and its partners will buy all of Samson Investment Company’s assets except for the onshore and deep water offshore facilities located in Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico respectively. These two facilities will continue to be in possession of Schusterman family, the founders of Samson Investment Company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The conglomerate consists of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Itochu Corp. (PINK: ITOCY), a Japanese conglomerate and two private equity firms Crestview Partners and Natural Gas Partners. The Samson deal will be one of the biggest leveraged buyout of 2011 and it exceed the previous $5.7 billion deal for the takeover of Kinetic partners by Apex Partners which was considered as the biggest deal until now. KKR was involved in the last year’s biggest leveraged deal as well in the form of its takeover of Del Monte Foods for $5.3 billion.


The Samson deal also has some personal significance for the co-chairman and co-founder of the private equity firm, KKR Financial Holdings LLC, Henry R. Kravis as even he hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma like Schusterman family, founders of Samson Investments and his father was an oil engineer. Kravis in a statement said that the Schusterman family is an extraordinary family who built a remarkable company with extraordinary culture and KKR Holdings feels fortunate to be the ones with an opportunity to carry forward their commitment to employees and communities and to the development of energy resources in the domestic scenario in a safe and profitable way.

KKR has been actively involved in the energy sector recently by striking numerous profitable deals with various companies and taking over few involved in exploration of shale gas, which happens to be a increasingly lucrative sector. These exploration companies are involved in finding and extracting oi and natural gas from hardened rock formations in various fields found spread across the country.

Samson Investment Company currently owns about 4,000 wells and also enjoys partial ownership in more than 12,500 wells. Samson has its presence in Bakken Shale in the North Dakota region and Marcellus Shale in the Northeast.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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