Michael Byrd Speaks to Bloomberg News on Oil & Gas Deals for U.S. Private Equity Firms
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Akin Gump oil and gas partner Michael Byrd has been quoted in the Bloomberg News article “Distress in the Shale Oil Patch Spurs New Type of Joint Venture,” which reports on a growing trend among shale explorers to partner with Wall Street private equity firms, instead of overseas rivals, to raise money for drilling.
According to the article, such transactions could pick up this year due to low commodity prices, with explorers looking to gain new funding. For their part, the article continues, the private equity firms are eager to invest in energy, and by some estimates have amassed as much as $100 billion in recent years for oil and gas deals.
“There is a lot of discussion,” said Byrd. “I’m aware of one investor in this type of transaction that has looked at somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 of these transactions, but only closed on a handful of them.”