It’s looking glum in the M&A world as deal values for first quarter transactions dropped 53%. But the value of PE-backed transactions actually rose, according to Thomson Reuters.

A group of investors led by Apollo Global Management has agreed to buy El Paso Corp.’s oil and gas exploration and production assets for about $7.15 billion. The deal is subject to the completion of the merger between Kinder Morgan and El Paso Corp., as well as other customary closing conditions. Other investors include Riverstone [...]

Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Riverstone Holdings have teamed up to bid around $7 billion for all of El Paso Corp‘s exploration and production assets, Reuters wrote, citing people familiar with the matter. El Paso’s oil and gas assets include acreage in the Eagle Ford field of south Texas, one the most lucrative producing areas in the country, Reuters wrote.

Dynamic Offshore Resources Inc, a private oil and gas company, filed with regulators to raise up to $400 million in an initial public offering of its common stock. The company received backing in 2008 from the Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings.

Riverstone Holdings is selling well specialist Titan Group to British oil services firm Hunting in a $775 million deal, Reuters reported. Titan’s products and services are used to drill the horizontal wells that are used to pump oil and gas out of shale rocks, Reuters wrote.

AES Solar, the Virginia-based joint venture between AES Corporation and Riverstone Holdings LLC, just completed a €68 Million financing of a solar photovoltaic project in Italy. The solar power company also has more projects in Greece, France and Bulgaria.

Barra Energia, the Brazilian oil and gas company based in Rio de Janeiro, has closed a deal to buy the remaining 10 percent of Royal-Dutch Shell‘s stake in a deep-water subsalt exploration block off Brazil’s coast. Shell said the sale was part of a previously announced reshuffle of its asset portfolio. It plans to continue investing in Brazil and expects [...]

AES Solar has set an end-of-July deadline for offers for the solar assets it plans to sell in Europe, Reuters reported. AES Solar is a joint venture between AES Corp. and private equity firm Riverstone Holdings. A sale of the assets – mainly in Italy and Spain – could fetch more than 600 million euros ($873 million), Reuters wrote.

Corporations and other strategic buyers are presenting buyout shops with serious competition in today’s heated market, but they’re also supplying a rich source of exits, according to the Buyouts cover story, published June 20. As of June 13, strategic buyers around the world bought 15,825 companies, including full or partial stakes, with a combined value [...]

Private equity-backed pipeline company Kinder Morgan is expected to file terms for its initial public offering before U.S. markets open on Thursday, Reuters reported. The company is expected to file to sell shares for $26 to $29 each, and price the IPO on Feb. 10, Reuters said. Chief Executive Richard Kinder led a group of investors, including Goldman Sachs’ buyout fund, The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings, in a 2007 deal to take the company private. Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital are leading the underwriters on the Kinder Morgan offering, Reuters said.