In a world of $60-plus oil and $11 to $12 gas, producers' desire to get upstream development projects under way has become greater than ever. But where do private E&P companies and small-cap publicly traded producers turn for both timely and aggressive capital for these projects? During the past two years, a number of established investment-banking firms, private-capital intermediaries and fund managers-responding to the ballooning investor appetite for direct energy investments-have dramatically stepped up private-equity financings, Rule 144A and Reg D private placements, and "private investment in public entity" (PIPE) transactions. Particularly aggressive in these financings have been the likes of Friedman Billings Ramsey, the Arlington, Virginia-based investment-banking firm, and Energy Capital Solutions, a Dallas investment-banking boutique. In addition, other seasoned private-equity fund managers and private-capital intermediaries-responding to the mass exodus of mezzanine capital from the energy space following the Enron debacle-have within the past year begun entering the mezzanine arena as providers of such capital. The new entrants include Houston's GasRock Capital LLC, formed by Weisser, Johnson & Co., and Houston's NGP Capital Resources, sponsored by Natural Gas Partners. For more on this, see the October issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-993-9320, ext. 126.
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