Pure Acquisition, led by Jack D. Hightower, is the latest blank-check company to emerge with an industry veteran at its helm.
Pure Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: PACQU) said April 18 it closed its IPO with proceeds of $414 million earmarked for a veteran team of oil and gas deal makers.
Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Pure Acquisition is a special purpose acquisition company, also known as a SPAC or blank-check company. The company is sponsored by an affiliate of HighPeak Energy Partners LP and led by Jack D. Hightower.
With more than 47 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Hightower is the latest industry veteran to take the helm of a blank-check company.
Most recently, Steve Chazen, the former CEO of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY), led his blank-check company through the acquisition of EnerVest Ltd.'s South Texas assets in a $2.66 billion business combination.
Other SPAC superstars include Jim Hackett’s Silver Run Acquisition Corp. II, which closed a deal in February uniting its financing with Alta Mesa Holdings and Kingfisher Midstream to create a behemoth in Oklahoma's Stack.
Hightower’s experience includes formation of Titan Resources LP in 1995 with backing from Natural Gas Partners. He later led Titan through an IPO and a business combination with Unocal Corp.’s Permian Basin and Rocky Mountain assets, creating Pure Resources Inc. which had a peak market cap of $1.77 billion.
Since 1995, Hightower has created and led five E&Ps through acquisition, growth and value creation strategies, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“In each of his last four startup companies, Mr. Hightower has completed initial acquisitions in less than nine months,” SEC filings said.
Hightower’s other startups include Celero Energy, Celero Energy II and Bluestem Energy Partners.
Pure Acquisition intends to focus its search on “businesses in the energy industry with an emphasis on opportunities in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America.”
The company’s offering is comprised of 41.4 million units priced at $10 per unit and includes a 5.4 million-share greenshoe. Oppenheimer & Co. and EarlyBirdCapital Inc. were joint book-running managers of the offering and I-Bankers Securities Inc. served as co-manager.
Pure Acquisition’s units began trading on the NASDAQ on April 13. Each unit consists of one share of the company’s Class A common stock and one-half of one warrant.
The company has until 18 months from the closing of its IPO to consummate an initial business combination, SEC filings said.
Emily Patsy can be reached at epatsy@hartenergy.com.
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