Energy Acquisitions in 2019

Rawhide Acquisition Holding LLC, a portfolio company of Coral Reef Capital, completed an equity financing to support its production ramp and future operations. The round included strategic investments from Austral Gold Limited and EMX Royalty Corporation, plus additional investment from affiliates of Coral Reef Capital; Austral and EMX will join Rawhide’s board. Proceeds will be used for working capital, capital projects, and general corporate purposes to optimize operations and exploration potential.

Hubbell Power Systems, a subsidiary of Hubbell Incorporated, has acquired Cantega Technologies, Inc. and affiliated Reliaguard, Inc. The deal adds Cantega and Reliaguard’s wildlife-mitigation products for substations and overhead distribution to Hubbell’s utility product portfolio, expanding its capability to reduce animal-related outages across utility networks.

Albireo Energy, the building automation and energy services platform backed by Huron Capital, has acquired Quality Building Controls (QBC), a Tampa-based provider of building automation systems and repair and maintenance services. The deal is an add-on to Albireo's platform that expands the company's presence in the Southeast, adds recurring service revenue, and retains QBC's management with founder Jerry Dohse remaining in a business development role.

Tower Arch Capital completed a recapitalization of Creedence Energy Services, partnering with founders Kevin, Wyatt and Malachi Black. The transaction will support Creedence’s growth and geographic expansion across the Bakken and Permian basins while providing liquidity and operational support from Tower Arch.

Ironwood Midstream Energy Partners II, LLC closed the acquisition of the Gardendale and Asherton crude oil gathering systems (the combined "Gardendale System") from Twin Eagle Gardendale Pipeline, LLC, a unit of Twin Eagle Holdings. The assets—approximately 150 miles of active gathering pipelines with long‑term dedications totaling more than 124,000 acres—expand Ironwood II's South Texas footprint and are backed by a $400 million growth capital commitment from EnCap Flatrock Midstream.

A fund managed by Basalt Infrastructure Partners completed the acquisition of Third Coast Midstream LLC's natural gas transmission business, which will be rebranded as Black Bear Transmission. The assets include seven regulated 'last-mile' pipelines (~550 miles, >1,600 MDth/day capacity) serving utilities and industrial customers across the Southeast United States; terms were not disclosed.

Vår Energi has completed the acquisition of ExxonMobil's Norway upstream assets for a cash consideration of roughly USD 4.5 billion, a deal that effectively doubled the company's production on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The portfolio adds interests in more than 20 producing fields (about 150,000 boepd additional), increases reserves to ~1,900 million boe and transfers some ~33–50 ExxonMobil employees to Vår Energi, reinforcing the company's position as the second-largest operator on the NCS.

An affiliate of White Oak Global Advisors, ACG Holdco, LLC, acquired all equity interests in Atlantic Carbon Group Plc through a UK Administration proceeding (with an ancillary Chapter 15 in Delaware). The credit-bid transaction—advised by SSG Capital Advisors and closed in December 2019—preserved operations at the Hazleton, Pennsylvania anthracite mining operations and saved over 150 jobs.

SPL Inc., a Houston-based testing, inspection and certification (TIC) platform backed by Industrial Growth Partners, acquired the laboratory and measurement services business of Banded Iron US Inc. The add-on expands SPL's lab footprint and measurement capabilities across key U.S. energy markets (including Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and North Dakota) and adds new testing technology such as flash liberation testing.

Bridges Evergreen Holdings (Evergreen), a long‑term capital vehicle managed by Bridges Fund Management, has taken a significant minority stake in AgilityEco Services Ltd to support the company's growth and scale its fuel‑poverty and energy‑efficiency programmes across the U.K. The investment will see Evergreen partners join AgilityEco's board and support the co‑founders' plan to expand delivery of retrofit and community energy‑advice services to more vulnerable households.

TRC Companies, supported by private equity sponsor New Mountain Capital, has acquired Lockheed Martin Distributed Energy Solutions (LM-DES). The deal adds just over 400 employees and expands TRC's advanced energy and utility services capabilities across multiple U.S. states, strengthening its distributed energy, efficiency and DERMS offerings.

Gravity, a Clearlake-backed water and energy infrastructure platform, has acquired On Point Oilfield Holdings from White Deer Energy, creating the largest produced water (saltwater disposal) company in the Midland Basin. On Point founders and key executives have joined Gravity’s management team; financial terms were not disclosed.

CRU Group has acquired Coking.com, Inc., the U.S.-based operator of the RefComm conference series and provider of refinery-focused consulting, training, and field services. The deal brings RefComm’s flagship Delayed Coking conference and technical services into CRU’s events and energy market intelligence portfolio, with Coking.com owners Paul Orlowski and Evan Hyde remaining with the business.

SitePro, an oilfield automation technology provider based in Lubbock, Texas, has acquired Integrated Control Solutions (ICS) to combine complementary automation technologies and managed services for upstream and midstream operators. The deal was financed with a J.P. Morgan debt facility and support from SitePro's existing shareholders, including Cottonwood Venture Partners and several family offices; ICS founders join SitePro's management team and retain ownership in SitePro.

Pelican Energy Partners announced a majority recapitalization of Safety Automation Technology, LLC (SAT) and Shepherd Safety Systems, LLC (Shepherd). The transaction pairs SAT's field safety services with Shepherd's patented H2S monitoring hardware and real-time monitoring software to expand Pelican's capabilities in oilfield safety and emissions/worker-monitoring solutions.

Clarke Energy USA, a Kohler Company subsidiary, has acquired Cogeneration Systems of America, Inc. (operating as Co-Energy America), a Upton, Massachusetts developer of packaged combined heat and power (CHP) systems. The acquisition expands Clarke Energy's U.S. footprint and its CHP product/service capabilities across the 35 kW to 1 MW size range for commercial and institutional customers in the Northeast.

Noralta Technologies acquired the business of Wellkeeper Inc., a Houston-based provider of remote monitoring solutions for independent oil and gas operators. Noralta will integrate Wellkeeper's customers onto its nTerface remote monitoring and surveillance platform to expand its service offering and reach within the energy sector.

HarbourVest Partners has made a $52 million equity investment to acquire a minority stake in Mesa Natural Gas Solutions, a portfolio company of BP Natural Gas Opportunity Partners, LP. The investment — announced by BP Energy Partners, LLC — will support Mesa’s manufacturing, leasing and operations of natural-gas and liquid-propane generator sets for energy, commercial and industrial applications.

Albireo Energy, the building automation and energy services platform backed by Huron Capital, has acquired Environmental Energy Corp. (EEC), a Deer Park, New York–based energy management systems provider serving large commercial and higher education buildings. The deal is an add-on to Albireo's platform intended to expand its presence in the New York metropolitan market and broaden its building automation capabilities.

MISTRAS Group acquired New Century Software, a Fort Collins-based provider of pipeline integrity management software and services, to expand its pipeline asset integrity and data management capabilities. The acquisition integrates New Century's pipeline software with MISTRAS' Plant Condition Management Software and recent Onstream pipeline inspection capabilities to offer enhanced data-driven pipeline protection solutions to midstream energy customers.

Priority Power Management, an Ara Partners-backed energy management and consulting firm, has acquired EE Partners Ltd., a Midland, Texas-based specialized electrical engineering and technical services provider. The acquisition strengthens Priority's electric infrastructure capabilities — including microgrid development and a custom SCADA platform — and expands its asset management and monitoring services.

Black Bay Energy Capital, an energy-focused private equity firm, has made an investment in Total Operations and Production Services (TOPS), a Midland, Texas-based provider of electric and gas-driven compression systems focused on gas lift applications in the Permian Basin. The partnership will provide capital and industry expertise to support TOPS' growth plans and expansion of its electric compression and automation capabilities.

Jones & Frank, a provider of fueling system solutions, has acquired M.L. Leonard, a Virginia-based petroleum equipment distributor and service provider. The deal expands Jones & Frank's sales, installation and maintenance capabilities in Virginia and the greater Mid-Atlantic region; MidOcean Partners, the sponsor behind Jones & Frank, said the acquisition aligns with its strategy to build a leading petroleum equipment solutions platform.

Abry Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, will purchase majority ownership of Franklin Energy Group from Kohlberg & Company and other stockholders. Franklin Energy, headquartered in Port Washington, Wisconsin, is a vertically integrated provider of demand-side management, energy efficiency program implementation, product fulfillment and customer engagement software for utilities; Abry said it will support the company's continued growth and capability expansion.

Antin Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire Veolia Environnement's US district energy business for an enterprise value of $1.25 billion. The business — the largest district energy provider in the United States, operating 13 district heating/cooling systems and employing more than 400 people — will be run as a standalone platform to pursue optimization, network densification, energy services and further growth.

Make It Cheaper (an ECI Partners portfolio company) has acquired County Durham–based Smart Utility Management, a provider of energy utility management and switching services for UK SMEs. The deal strengthens Make It Cheaper’s switching capability and field-sales reach, expands cross-sell opportunities (telecoms and insurance) and increases MIC Group’s contracts under management to over 216,000.

NextEra Energy Transmission, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc., completed the acquisition of Trans Bay Cable, LLC from affiliates of SteelRiver Infrastructure Fund North America. The 53-mile high-voltage direct current underwater transmission cable connecting Pittsburg, California to San Francisco will be added to NextEra's regulated transmission portfolio; financial terms were not disclosed.

Tendril and Simple Energy merged their operations to form Uplight, combining multiple utility-focused software assets (including recent acquisitions EEme, EnergySavvy and FirstFuel) into an end-to-end customer energy platform. Rubicon Technology Partners remains the majority shareholder and The AES Corporation continues as a key investor to support the company's growth serving electric and gas utilities.

Bridges Fund Management has acquired GEV Group (trading as GEV Wind Power), a UK-headquartered specialist in wind turbine blade repair and maintenance, from Maven Capital Partners. The existing management team, led by CEO David Fletcher, is reinvesting and will continue to run the business as Bridges supports scaling the company across onshore and offshore wind markets.

A.P. Moller Holding has agreed to acquire KK Group A/S (marketed as KK Wind Solutions), a Denmark-headquartered provider of power electronic systems, cooling and monitoring solutions for the wind industry. The acquisition is intended to accelerate KK Group’s global expansion and follow its customers’ international growth while leveraging A.P. Moller Holding’s global network and resources.

ID Global Corporation (IDGC) completed a strategic investment to acquire a majority stake in Noveda Technologies, an IoT leader in cloud-based real-time energy and water management systems. IDGC said it will integrate Noveda's monitoring platform into its Smart Grid and Microgrid solutions to expand capability and deliver advanced energy and water management services worldwide.

Balance Point Capital led a $55 million financing (senior debt and preferred equity) in Budderfly, Inc., bringing total capital raised to $77 million alongside Edison Partners, Connecticut Growth Capital, the State of Connecticut (DECD), Connecticut Innovations, founder Al Subbloie and senior management. The funding will support Budderfly’s growth in the Energy Efficiency-as-a-Service market, scaling its software, IoT-enabled controls and facility upgrades across nearly 1,000 contracted North American locations.

O2 Investment Partners, through EMEX, has made an investment in and formed a strategic alliance with Patriot Energy Group to expand both companies' geographic reach and service offerings. EMEX, a Houston-based technology-driven energy procurement and brokerage firm, will partner with Patriot to broaden presence across competitive U.S. electricity and natural gas markets, with a strong focus on the Northeast.

Integrated Energy Services (iES), a portfolio company of Gainline Capital Partners, has acquired MACH Energy, an energy management and sustainability software platform. The combination brings together iES's grid-relationship management and demand response capabilities with MACH's building energy analytics to expand product capabilities, improve grid resiliency, and accelerate growth across commercial building customers.

Duquesne Light Holdings (DLH) has acquired The Efficiency Network (TEN), a Pittsburgh-based provider of customized energy-efficiency and smart-city solutions. FMI Capital Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor to TEN; TEN's leadership will remain in place as the business becomes a platform for DLH to expand its energy-efficiency, distributed generation, and smart street lighting offerings in Pennsylvania and beyond.

London-based private equity firm Blue Water Energy has acquired Pipeline Technique Limited (PTL), a Huntly, Scotland-headquartered provider of pipeline welding, field joint coating and spoolbase services, from Heerema Marine Contractors. Blue Water said it will invest capital to support PTL’s future growth and independence as a specialist pipeline welding and coating services provider to the energy industry.

Tendril, a Boulder-based provider of AI-powered utility customer experience and demand-side management (DSM) solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire EnergySavvy, a Seattle-based leader in personalized utility customer engagement. The acquisition expands Tendril’s platform capabilities by adding EnergySavvy’s multi-channel personalization, advanced analytics and automated program delivery to deliver an end-to-end residential utility customer experience.

Linx Partners (Linx Fund III) completed a recapitalization of Transglobal Services, a Fort Worth-based provider of surveying, land acquisition, GIS, environmental permitting and right-of-way services to the energy pipeline infrastructure market. Founders John Ratliff and Jeff Colwell remain in their roles and retain significant ownership; Cadence Bank provided senior financing to support the transaction.

XRI Holdings, a Morgan Stanley Energy Partners portfolio company, has acquired the produced water treatment, recycle and reuse division of Fountain Quail Energy Services (branded Fountain Quail Water Treatment). The division — headquartered in Irving, Texas — will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under the Fountain Quail name; the seller was Fountain Quail Energy Services LLC, which is backed by CSL Capital Management.

Seacoast Capital announced it has exited its investment in Stone Road Energy, a New England regional distributor of heating oil and propane, through a sale to an unnamed strategic acquirer and operator of propane and fuel distribution assets. Seacoast had supported Stone Road with subordinated debt, preferred equity and a follow-on growth capital investment to fund acquisitions and infrastructure expansion.

Tally Energy Services has acquired Epic Lift Systems, a Fort Worth-based provider of plunger lift, gas lift and compression solutions, from Intervale Capital. The acquisition expands Tally's artificial lift capabilities, adding Epic's manufacturing, R&D and field-service footprint across 16 U.S. locations; financial terms were not disclosed.

Funds managed by Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire substantially all assets of Oryx Southern Delaware Holdings LLC and Oryx Delaware Holdings LLC (collectively, Oryx) for about $3.6 billion. Sellers include affiliates of Quantum Energy Partners, Post Oak Energy Capital, Concho Resources and WPX Energy; Oryx will remain headquartered in Midland, Texas with its leadership team continuing in place and investing alongside Stonepeak.

American Industrial Partners (AIP) has completed the acquisition of Current, powered by GE, from General Electric. Current — a provider of LED lighting, intelligent controls, sensors and software for commercial, industrial and municipal customers — will continue to use the GE brand under a long-term licensing agreement as it operates under AIP ownership.

EQOS Energie, a Triton Fund IV portfolio company, has acquired all shares of overhead line construction specialist Bilfinger FRB GmbH (Dinslaken, Germany) and Bilfinger FRB S.à r.l. (Luxembourg), effective 1 April 2019. The add-on brings approximately 180 specialists across six additional locations, expanding EQOS Energie’s project capacity and local service footprint in energy transmission and related infrastructure.

Swedish energy-tech company Metry raised 14 million SEK through a rights issue and investment led by Summa Equity, with participation from Chalmers Ventures, angel investors and Metry chairman Andreas Rydholm. The growth capital will support product development and expansion of Metry’s energy data platform for the real estate sector in Sweden and abroad.

Opinion Dynamics, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based energy evaluation and market research firm, has acquired Research Into Action, a Portland-based energy evaluation and market insights company. The acquisition brings Research Into Action's energy research professionals into Opinion Dynamics to expand capabilities and further grow the firm's core services across the U.S.

EnergyIQ acquired key assets (EnterpriseDB, Navigator and Gateway) from petroWEB to expand its wellbore and GG&E data management and GIS capabilities. The asset purchase strengthens EnergyIQ's product portfolio and expands its footprint in North America and internationally while several petroWEB support and development staff will join EnergyIQ to aid integration.

Drillinginfo Holdings, a Genstar Capital-backed energy SaaS and data analytics platform, has completed the acquisition of Cortex (Cortex Business Solutions), a Network-as-a-Service provider that automates accounts payable and receivable for the oil & gas industry. The deal is an add-on to Drillinginfo's buildout under Genstar ownership to broaden its energy value-chain offerings into business automation and payments/commodity data solutions.

Ara Partners, an industrial-focused private equity firm, has made a significant investment in Priority Power Management, an independent energy management services and consulting firm headquartered in Midland, Texas. The investment (terms not disclosed) will support Priority Power's organic growth and acquisition-led strategy, and Ara has taken board representation alongside Priority Power leadership and an industry representative from Teleios Commodities.

EQT Infrastructure (EQT) has acquired Kodiak Gas Services, LLC, a Houston-based contract compression services provider, from The Stephens Group. EQT will support Kodiak's continued growth, technology strengthening and operational improvements as the company expands with existing and new customers across U.S. oil and gas basins.