Gastar Exploration Inc. (NYSE MKT: GST) purchased 5,670 net acres in the Stack Play in Kingfisher County, Okla., and added 9.5 net wells in its first significant acquisition since October 2015.
On March 22, Gastar said it closed the deal for additional working interest and net revenue interests for $51.4 million. The price is subject to final closing adjustments.
Gastar already held an interest in the majority of the acquired producing wells and leasehold. Net production associated with the acquisition is about 330 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), 49% of which is oil. About 57% of the acreage is currently HBP.
J. Russell Porter, Gastar’s president and CEO, said the transaction further increases Gastar’s Stack to a total of 62,370 net surface acres. The figure does not include 27,100 net acres in the West Edmund Hunton Lime Unit (WEHLU) and surrounding area.
“Acquiring additional working interest within our core Stack position in leases that Gastar currently owns and operates is an attractive approach to creating additional value,” Porter said.
About 48% of the additional interest is in leases that are within the company’s joint development agreement area and as a result, “Gastar will earn a 10% drilling promote on those additional interests that are drilled within the joint venture. Through our planned 2017 capital program, a large majority of the acquired leases will be held by production under our current drilling plan," he said.
Gastar, which some analysts see as strapped for cash, will fund the deal with an issuance of convertible notes from Ares Management LP as well as an additional $75 million. With shareholder’s approval, Gastar will repurchase $37.5 million worth of the notes in exchange for roughly 25.5 million shares of common stock.
The remaining $162.5 million of convertible notes will be eligible for conversion into Gastar common shares at an initial conversion price of $2.2103 per share.
“Though GST has made a shift to being a pure-play Midcontinent operator, the company is still working through its prospective inventory while remaining constricted with liquidity issues,” David Deckelbaum, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, said in a March 19 report.
Deckelbaum said asset sales could improve the company’s liquidity but also saw the recent Ares investment stake as driving “interest in pursuing M&A.”
The company established a financing partnership with Ares on March 3.
Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.
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