US-based private equity company Quantum Capital Group has reached an agreement to purchase Caerus Oil and Gas, valuing the Rocky Mountain energy company at $1.8bn, reported Bloomberg, citing sources.
The deal involves Quantum Capital buying Caerus from its current investors, which include Oaktree Capital Management, Anschutz Investment Company, and Old Ironsides Energy.
Quantum’s representative declined to comment on the news, the news agency said, adding that requests for comment from Caerus, Oaktree, Anschutz and Old Ironsides also did not elicit a response.
This deal underscores the growing involvement of buyout companies in the oil and gas industry, which has witnessed a boom in transactions following the pandemic's impact on the energy market.
Last month, Crescent Energy, supported by KKR & Co., agreed to a $2.1bn deal for SilverBow Resources.
The transaction between Quantum and Caerus is also notable as a secondary buyout, a less common occurrence in the US oil and gas sector, where corporate entities are usually the ones acquiring assets from private equity-backed companies.
Earlier in the month, Matador Resources Company announced the purchase of assets in the Permian Basin from an EnCap Investments portfolio company for $1.9bn in cash.
Caerus currently operates more than 7,400 wells across the Piceance Basin in Colorado and Uinta Basin in Utah.
The company also has related infrastructure including more than 3,862km of gas and water pipelines, as well as numerous water treatment and storage facilities.
