Herbert Smith Freehills' energy team has advised Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP), part of the Carlyle Group, on its agreement to purchase the entire Romanian business of Sterling Resources. The acquisition includes license blocks 13 Pelican, 15 Midia, 25 Luceafarul and 27 Muridava, all located in the Romanian Black Sea.
The purchase will be structured as a corporate acquisition of Sterling's wholly-owned subsidiary Midia Resouces SRL and is expected to complete by the end of the second quarter of 2015, subject to typical conditions, including statutory Romanian approvals and the consent of certain participants in the Romanian concessions.
CIEP will fund the future development of the assets, which is expected to constitute a sizable inward investment into Romania. The development project will focus on drilling, infrastructure construction, production and sale of gas to market.
CIEP is a $2.5 billion fund that invests in global oil and gas exploration and production mid- and downstream, oil field services and refining and marketing in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Anna Howell (Corporate Energy partner) and Laura Hulett (senior associate), Ian Williams (associate) and Natalia Camargo Barros (associate) led the Herbert Smith Freehills team, assisted by Isaac Zailer (partner, Tax), Camilla Grundy (associate, Tax), Thomas Bethel (partner, Finance) and Heather Woodward (senior associate, Finance) with other partners and associates from Disputes, Competition, Finance and Employment providing specialist advice throughout the transaction.
Local law advice was provided by Pachiu & Associates in Romania and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt in Canada.
Anna Howell commented: "We were extremely pleased to work with Carlyle on what is a strategically important investment for their energy investment platform. This deal demonstrates that there are buyers for quality oil & gas assets even with the drop in the oil price. "
Herbert Smith Freehills has a strong integrated global energy practice dedicated to the sector.
