Crescent Energy CRGY-N will buy SilverBow Resources SBOW-N in a $2.1-billion deal, the companies said on Thursday, amid a consolidation wave in the U.S. oil and gas industry.
SilverBow and Crescent Energy both operate in the Eagle Ford shale in Texas.
The announcement comes amid SilverBow’s tussle with its largest shareholder Kimmeridge Energy Management, which is vying for seats on SilverBow’s board after a failure to acquire the company.
SilverBow shareholders would get 3.125 shares of Crescent Class A common stock for each share of SilverBow, along with an option to get all or a portion of the proceeds in cash at a value of $38 per share.
The maximum cash consideration for the deal is $400-million, the companies said.
After the deal’s closing, which is expected in the third quarter, Crescent’s board of directors will increase to 11 members with the addition of two directors to be designated by SilverBow.
SilverBow has a market capitalization of about $826-million, as of last close. Its shares, which have gained about 11 per cent this year, were up 13 per cent in premarket trading. Shares of Crescent fell 1.4 per cent.
Bloomberg News first reported about the deal earlier on Thursday.