Private Equity Sees Shale Escape Route by Building Cash Flow
- Pioneer deal is biggest for a closely held oil firm in decade
- PE-backed sellers need to offer free cash flow: Cody Campbell
Oil pumpjacks outside Odessa, Texas. Sergio Flores/Bloomberg
Photographer: Sergio Flores/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Private-equity firms that bet big on shale for more than a decade finally are seeing glimmers of hope that their investments will bear fruit.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. took analysts and investors by surprise with its $6.4 billion deal to buy DoublePoint Energy LLC, a Permian shale powerhouse backed by Apollo Global Management Inc., Quantum Energy Partners, Magnetar Capital and Blackstone Credit. It’s the largest acquisition of a closely held oil company since 2011.