Anadarko ex-CEO leads deal creating company
The publicly traded blank-check company run by the former CEO of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is merging with two production and pipeline firms to create a new company valued at nearly $4 billion.
James Hackett’s Silver Run Acquisition Corp. II said it is merging with Houston’s Alta Mesa Holdings and Kingfisher Midstream — both of which focus on Oklahoma oil and gas acreage and pipelines — to form Alta Mesa Resources in Houston. Alta Mesa will trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol AMR.
A blank-check company is a publicly traded entity created to merge with companies seeking an easier route to public markets and financing than an initial public offering. Alta Mesa is at least the second local company this summer to use a blank-check merger to become publicly traded.
In July, Next Decade, a Houston venture that plans to export liquefied natural gas from Texas, became a public company when it closed on what was touted as a $1 billion merger with the blank-check firm Harmony Merger Corp., which, in turn, went public about two years ago. Next Decade is planning LNG terminals in Brownsville and Texas City.
Silver Run said the new Alta Mesa Resources will have an aggregate Wall Street value of nearly $3.8 billion. Hackett, the
former chairman and CEO of Anadarko, will serve as the new company’s chairman. Alta Mesa Holdings CEO Harlan Chappelle will remain CEO of the new Alta Mesa. Michael Ellis, who founded the original Alta Mesa 30 years ago, will be the chief operating officer.
Alta Mesa holds about 120,000 contiguous acres in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin. That’s part of the booming Oklahoma play known as STACK, for Sooner Trend, Anadarko, Canadian and Kingfisher counties.
Hackett said the new Alta Mesa also could spin off its pipeline business for anotherinitial public offering.
Silver Run II is backed by Riverstone Holdings, an energy-focused private equity firm. Riverstone and Alta Mesa management will own about one-third of the combined company. Hackett is a partner in Riverstone, which he joined four years ago after leaving The Woodlands-based Anadarko.