Riverstone Holdings LLC is looking to divest the remaining shares it owns in Denver-based oilfield services firm Liberty Oilfield Services Inc.

Liberty announced the commencement of the secondary public offering in a company release on June 7 of roughly 12.3 million shares of its Class A common stock still owned by private equity firm Riverstone. Upon closing, Riverstone will have fully exited its investment in Liberty, the company release said.

Analysts with Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) noted Liberty’s equity is up big year-to-date and since its acquisition of Schlumberger Ltd.’s North America fracking business, OneStim, was announced last September. Though, the analysts also believe that timing plus duration of the investment also factored into Riverstone’s decision to divest.

“This does absolutely zilch to our stock thoughts but it may prove a near-term headwind for the equity,” the TPH analysts wrote in a June 8 research note. “We continue to believe LBRT is one of the very best in the frac business and know they’re doing beaucoup heavy lifting to improve the completion and frac diagnostics equation as they leverage their substantial technology portfolio and the frac data that they mine.”


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Based in Denver, Liberty is one of the largest U.S. oilfield services firm, which offers a suite of completion services and technologies to onshore oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in North America.

Morgan Stanley is acting as the underwriter for the secondary equity offering. Liberty will not receive any proceeds since the company is not selling any shares of its stock in the offering.

Law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP advised Liberty Oilfield Services in connection with the offering led by partner David Oelman and counsel Crosby Scofield.