Energy & Exploration, a recently formed company that's preparing to sell shares to the public, said Monday that it has agreed to pay Chesapeake Energy $125 million for 57,275 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas and the Woodbine sand in East Texas, or Eaglebine as it is sometimes called, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing
Energy & Exploration, which lists a downtown Fort Worth headquarters address, said it expects the acquisition to close in the fourth quarter. A company representative declined to comment further, saying the company is observing a "quiet period" pending its initial public stock offering.Chesapeake also declined to comment.Energy & Exploration's SEC S-1 form, filed for an IPO, said its predecessor entities date to 2006 while it began operations in 2008. The SEC disclosure says it "began leasing in the Eagle Ford Shale," mostly in McMullen and LaSalle counties, and sold acreage to other independents.The filing says the company in 2010 and 2011 "engaged in the acquisition and sale of undeveloped oil and natural gas leasehold interests. Beginning in the first quarter of 2012, we adopted a business strategy to develop and exploit our undeveloped leasehold acreage in order to provide a greater return on investments in those properties."Energy & Exploration's founder and CEO is Hunt Pettit, 42, who has 16 years' experience as a landman and entrepreneur, the filing says. It says that in 2005-08, Pettit was contract land manager in the Barnett Shale for David Arrington Oil & Gas.The disclosure says he helped start North American Shale Investment in 2011 and holds 58 percent of Energy & Exploration's common stock. It also says he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 2003 in Austin. Brian C. Nelson is listed as chief financial officer.The S-1 filing says the proposed maximum offering of its IPO will be $275 million. It says that at June 30 it had Canaccord Genuity and Johnson Rice & Co. listed as underwriters.Jim Fuquay, 817-390-7552Twitter: @jimfuquayHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
