Equity Group Investments (EGI) and Colony Capital have formed a new joint venture partnership, Alpine Energy Capital, (“Alpine”, formerly known as Colony HB2 Energy, LLC), to provide capital and asset management solutions to the U.S. upstream oil & gas industry.
Alpine will enable institutional investors to participate directly at the asset level without the overhead and reinvestment risks associated with the traditional industry structure. Specific terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
Sam Zell, chairman of EGI, commented, “The energy sector is being impacted by a shortage of capital, which is a direct result of the sector’s previous performance and investors’ inability to earn a return. We have long history in investing in dislocated situations, of which this is an example.”
Formed in 2018, Colony HB2 Energy will now rebrand as Alpine, and continue to focus on sourcing, sponsoring and managing investment product solutions that provide more efficient forms of exposure to the asset class.
Alpine’s first investment is the recently closed $500 million DrillCo financing with California Resources Corp., the largest oil & gas exploration and production company in California. Alpine has committed $320 million in the first tranche of this joint venture that will be used to develop approximately 275 wells at CRC’s flagship Elk Hills field.
Alpine is headquartered in Houston and led by its seasoned management team including Craig Perry, chairman; and Bill Wicker, CIO; along with Michael McCoy, COO; Elliott Hough, CEO; and Michael Bertuccio, who each have more than 30 years of experience in the oil & gas industry.
“We are aggressively pursuing opportunities in the upstream oil & gas industry and look forward to speaking with operators in need of capital solutions,” added Perry.