KKR to Buy Samson for $7.2 Billion to Add Shale-Based Oil, Gas

KKR & Co., the private-equity firm that began investing in the energy industry in 1985, agreed to acquire most of Samson Investment Co. for $7.2 billion to capitalize on increased production of shale-based oil and gas.

A KKR-led investor group will buy all of Samson’s assets except its onshore Gulf Coast and deep-water Gulf of Mexico assets, the companies said today in a statement. The Gulf assets will continue to be owned by the Schusterman family, which founded the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company in 1971.