Energy Acquisitions in Colorado

SM Energy Company has completed its all‑stock merger with Civitas Resources, with the combined company retaining the SM Energy name and NYSE ticker "SM." Beth McDonald was named president and CEO and Blake McKenna named EVP and COO; the enlarged board now has 11 members (six from SM, five from Civitas). Management highlighted a $200–$300 million annual synergy target and plans to pursue at least $1.0 billion of divestitures over the next year to drive higher free cash flow and strengthen the balance sheet.

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) has made a strategic investment in Torch Clean Energy to support the company's transition from a development platform into an integrated clean power platform with capabilities across development, construction and asset management. The capital will help Torch scale operations, expand construction and operations management, procurement and project finance capabilities and pursue growth in key U.S. markets such as the Mid-Atlantic and the desert Southwest.

Relevate Power has acquired Gravity Renewables, adding 40 MW of hydroelectric and one solar project to its portfolio. The transaction was financed by funds managed by Apollo and more than doubles Relevate’s generation capacity while expanding its footprint in the Northeastern United States.

Verdantas, a Tampa-based consulting firm backed by Sterling Investment Partners, has acquired ASEC Engineers, a Denver-based power delivery and renewable energy engineering firm. The deal adds ASEC’s transmission, substation and distribution design capabilities and ~130 staff across offices in Colorado, California, Florida, Texas and Pune, India, expanding Verdantas’ energy transition service offerings and geographic footprint.

Bureau Veritas has acquired ArcVera Renewables, a finance-grade consulting and technical services provider for wind, solar, and battery storage projects. The acquisition expands Bureau Veritas's renewables capabilities and strengthens its presence in North America, adding ArcVera's technical expertise and project experience to its service offering.

Rubicon Technology Partners has made a strategic growth investment in Ascend Analytics to support the company’s product development and commercial expansion in energy market analytics. Ascend Analytics, a Boulder-based provider of power market intelligence and forecasting solutions, will leverage the investment to scale its SaaS offerings and expand market reach.

ESG, a global energy SaaS provider backed by Accel-KKR, has acquired Whitestar, a provider of high-fidelity infrastructure planning data and land-mapping software. The acquisition adds project evaluation and land mapping capabilities to ESG’s Pandell asset infrastructure data management suite to better serve renewables, utilities, oil & gas, telco and other infrastructure customers.

Franklin Energy has acquired Snugg Home, the maker of Snugg Pro, a residential energy auditing SaaS used by utilities, contractors, and program implementers. The acquisition integrates Snugg Pro into Franklin Energy's NGAGE technology platform to strengthen support for state energy offices and utility programs (including IRA-funded HOMES and HEAR rebate programs).

Prairie Operating Co. (Nasdaq: PROP) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the producing assets of Nickel Road Operating LLC for $94.5 million (including $83.0M cash and $11.5M deferred). The asset purchase expands Prairie's footprint in the DJ Basin — adding ~3,370 net Boepd, 5,500 net contiguous leasehold acres, 62 permitted PUDs and materially accretive reserves and cash flow.

GEF Capital Partners has completed a growth investment in Next Step Energy Solutions (NSES), a Littleton, Colorado–based provider of turnkey LED lighting retrofit and tech-enabled energy efficiency services. The investment will help NSES expand its customer base and geographic reach across the United States to meet growing demand for energy efficiency solutions.

Williams Field Services Group, LLC (a subsidiary of The Williams Companies, Inc.) has signed definitive agreements to acquire Cureton Front Range LLC (Cureton Midstream) from Tailwater Capital and a fund managed by Ares Management's Private Equity Group, with an expected close in December 2023 pending regulatory approvals. Cureton is a Denver-based midstream operator with pipelines, gas processing capacity and compression assets in the DJ Basin; the deal expands Williams' asset base and regional footprint.

Western Midstream Partners, LP agreed to acquire Meritage Midstream Services II, LLC in an all-cash transaction for $885 million to expand its Powder River Basin footprint. The deal adds ~1,500 miles of gathering pipelines, ~380 MMcf/d processing capacity and the Thunder Creek NGL pipeline; closing was expected in Q4 2023 subject to customary approvals.

Chevron Corporation completed its acquisition of PDC Energy, Inc. in an all‑stock transaction valued at $6.3 billion (approximately $7.6 billion enterprise value), adding significant oil and gas assets in the Denver‑Julesburg (DJ) Basin and the Permian Basin. The deal, approved by PDC shareholders and closed in August 2023, is expected to be accretive to Chevron's earnings, increase proved reserves and deliver operational synergies.

Arroyo Investors, a Houston-based investment manager, closed a growth investment in Mesa Solutions, a Loveland, Colorado company that designs, assembles, deploys and services portable and stationary natural gas-fired power generation systems. The investment will support Mesa’s expansion in distributed generation and microgrids, including its Portable Power Units and emerging Distributable Power Units (500 kW PowerCore) offerings for commercial, industrial and government customers.

Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. (Bowman) has acquired SEI Engineering, LLC (operating as SEI Professional Services), a Paonia, Colorado-based provider of engineering, design and commissioning services for utility and commercial-scale solar and battery storage projects. The deal, financed with cash and seller notes, is expected to add approximately $1.5 million of annualized net service billing and strengthen Bowman's renewable energy planning, engineering and commissioning capabilities.

Affiliated funds of Longbow Capital Inc. closed an investment in Amped Up Power Solutions, acquiring debentures, rights to purchase additional debentures, and an equity kicker that results in a substantial minority stake. The financing will support Amped Up’s deployment of cleaner on-site power and microgrid integrations for oil and gas well sites as customers shift away from diesel power.

Hull Street Energy has made a strategic growth investment in Flatiron Energy, a Boulder-based developer, owner and operator of utility-scale energy storage projects. The investment expands Hull Street Energy’s presence in the fast-growing grid-scale energy storage market and supports Flatiron’s development and operation of standalone battery storage systems across key U.S. energy markets.

Legence, a Blackstone portfolio company, has acquired Black Bear Energy to expand its onsite renewable energy procurement and clean-tech project capabilities. The deal strengthens Legence's ability to deliver end-to-end decarbonization solutions across the built environment.

PDC Energy, Inc. completed the acquisition of privately held Great Western Petroleum, LLC, a Denver-based oil and gas producer. The deal included $543 million in cash consideration (less $50 million previously escrowed), approximately 4 million shares of PDC common stock, and PDC paid off Great Western’s secured credit facility and senior secured notes; PDC said the acquisition is accretive to its operating, ESG and financial metrics.

Denver-based Cureton Midstream, a Tailwater Capital portfolio company, acquired the Gilcrest System — a midstream gas gathering and processing system in the DJ Basin — from Aka Energy Group on February 1, 2022. The asset adds more than 38 MMcf/d of processing capacity, over 100 miles of gathering pipeline and long-term acreage dedications, expanding Cureton's processing capacity and connectivity in the core of the DJ Basin.

Liberty Oilfield Services Inc. acquired PropX (Proppant Express Investments, LLC), a Denver-based provider of last-mile proppant delivery equipment, logistics and software, in a transaction valued at approximately $90 million (cash and stock). The deal adds PropX's wet sand handling technology, proppant containers and PropConnect logistics software to Liberty's completion services offering to improve logistics efficiency and reduce emissions.

E Source has acquired Cairn ERA, a global market intelligence and consulting firm specializing in battery storage, to expand its analytics and advisory offerings for utilities and energy developers. The deal, announced by E Source (owned by Align Capital Partners), adds Cairn ERA’s battery expertise to E Source’s suite of data-driven solutions for US and Canadian utilities.

Generac Holdings Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire Enbala Power Networks, a Denver-based distributed energy resources (DER) optimization and control software provider. The acquisition adds Enbala’s Concerto DERMS/VPP platform to Generac’s portfolio to accelerate its Smart Grid and grid services capabilities; terms were not disclosed and the deal is expected to close within 30 days.

Pierre Corp. (OTCQB: PIRE), a California-based publicly traded company, acquired 100% of Fourth Wave Energy (FWE) in an all-stock transaction. Fourth Wave Energy is a Denver-based geo/solar climate solutions company that develops an integrated geo‑solar building system for net-zero homes and commercial buildings and will operate regional offices in San Jose and Dallas.

Quorum Software has acquired Denver-based EnergyIQ, a provider of well master data management software, to strengthen Quorum's oil and gas software and services portfolio. The acquisition adds EnergyIQ's SaaS-based well lifecycle data management and master data capabilities to Quorum's suite, enabling better data-driven decisions for midsized to large E&P companies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

RESA Power, a portfolio company of Blue Sea Capital, has acquired Grounded Technologies, Inc. (GTI), a Parker, Colorado-based provider of NETA-certified commissioning, acceptance testing, and maintenance services for medium- to high-voltage power equipment. The deal expands RESA Power’s service footprint into the Denver metro area; financial terms were not disclosed.