Akin Gump Advises EagleClaw Midstream in Caprock Midstream Acquisition

(Houston) – EagleClaw Midstream, a portfolio company of Blackstone Energy Partners, announced today that it has entered into binding agreements to acquire Caprock Midstream Holdings from Energy Spectrum Capital and Caprock Midstream Management for $950 million plus pre-closing adjustments. Akin Gump served as legal counsel in the transaction to Blackstone and EagleClaw.

The all-cash transaction is expected to close in 2018 and will be funded with equity and committed debt financing from Barclays Plc. EagleClaw’s current executive leadership team will lead the combined business, which shall operate under the EagleClaw name, following the closing of the transaction.

EagleClaw is the largest privately held midstream operator in the Permian’s Delaware Basin in West Texas. Its assets are strategically located in Reeves, Ward and Culberson counties and include more than 550 miles of natural gas and natural gas liquids pipelines and 720 million cubic feet per day of processing capacity.

Thomas J. McCaffrey and Patrick Hurley, partners in Akin Gump’s global energy and transactions practice, led the team advising Blackstone and EagleClaw. They were joined by:

• global energy and transactions partners William Morris, Robert Shearer, Andrew Lehman and Shar Ahmed; counsel Stephen Boone and Mary Lovely, and associates Jack Polisini and Matthew Turner;
• tax partner Alison Chen and senior counsel Michael Gerald;
• energy regulation, markets and enforcement senior counsel Vera Neinast;
• environment and natural resources partner David Quigley and senior counsel Andrew Oelz;
• corporate partner Scott Welkis; and
• labor and employment partner Brian Patterson.

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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