Southwestern Energy announced on December 31 it had closed the $1.85bn purchase of assets in the US Haynesville basin held by private equity firms.

Under the deal, announced in early November, Southwestern has paid $1.33bn in cash and issued $525mn of its shares to acquire GEP Haynesville, a joint venture between Blackstone-backed GeoSouthern and Texas-based private equity firm Woodlands. Southwestern raised $1.15bn from the sale of notes and took out a $550mn loan to fund the purchase in December.

“The transaction builds further scale in the Haynesville, deepens the company’s inventory, improves key financial metrics, including margins, returns and per-share ratios, fortifies Southwestern’s financial strength and enhances the company’s leading presences in the two premier natural gas basins in the US,” Southwestern said in its latest statement.

Read more/Source: Natural Gas World