First Reserve, a global private equity investment firm exclusively focused on energy, has agreed to sell the assets of Texas American Resources I to an affiliate of Venado Oil & Gas, for undisclosed amount.

First Reserve originally invested in the Company in December 2016 to support Texas American’s pursuit of oil development opportunities in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.

Founded in 1990, Texas American has a long history of successful oil and natural gas exploration and production operations.  Concurrent with the closing of First Reserve’s original investment, the Company acquired an initial leasehold position in the black oil window of the Eagle Ford trend in Atascosa County, Texas, covering ~12,000 acres.  Since that time, Texas American has completed four add-on acquisitions, nearly doubling the initial acreage position to more than ~23,000 net acres as of year-end 2017.

David Honeycutt, CEO of Texas American, commented, “With First Reserve’s partnership and network in the energy industry, we are proud to have executed on our business plan and driven meaningful growth in our company.  We look forward to continuing to evaluate other attractive potential opportunities in the Eagle Ford Shale.”

Michael France and Brooks Shughart, Managing Directors of First Reserve, added, “First Reserve invested in Texas American as a growth platform, with the belief that David and his team would be strong operators, capable of developing an underdeveloped and highly attractive package of assets.  Less than 1.5 years later, we are pleased to see management’s accomplishments be recognized through the sale of these assets and to have generated value for our investors and the Company.”

BMO Capital Markets Corp. acted as financial advisor to Texas American in this transaction. David Honeycutt praised the BMO team, “I want to compliment Geoff Roberts and his team of professionals at BMO for all of their hard work in telling our story.”

Source: Company Press Release