CCMP Invests $345 Million for Stake in Chaparral

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Private equity firm CCMP Capital is investing $345 million to take a 37 percent stake in independent oil and gas producer Chaparral Energy in its third deal in a month.

CCMP has a history of investing in energy assets and currently has an investment in Noble Environmental Power, which is focused on wind power.

“We’ve been net sellers (of energy investments) over the last three or four years and we’ve been looking for a good platform company to invest in and grow our energy business after delivering a lot of capital back to our investors,” CCMP Managing Director Christopher Behrens told Reuters.

Oklahoma City-based Chaparral has assets in the U.S. Midwest and the Permian Basin in West Texas.

“This had a nice combination of great assets, a great management team and a lot of potential to grow,” Behrens said.

Interest in oil assets, like those found in the Permian Basin, has heated up in recent months as the price of oil trades in a range of $70 to $80 per barrel.

The deal is CCMP’s third in four weeks.

Earlier in March, it said it would buy business-to-business marketing firm Infogroup Inc (IUSA.O) for about $463 million, as well as a controlling interest in women’s retailer Francesca’s Collections.

CCMP said it now has about $1.6 billion of “dry powder”, or capital available to invest.

By Megan Davies
(Additional reporting by Anna Driver in Houston)