Diversified Energy to buy eastern Texas natural gas assets for $106m

Diversified Energy said on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy natural gas assets from Crescent Pass Energy for about $106m (£84m).

The company said it was buying "high-working interest, operated natural gas properties and related facilities" located within eastern Texas.

The acquisition will be funded through a combination of the issuance of approximately 2.4m new US dollar-denominated ordinary shares direct to Crescent Pass and a senior secured bank facility supported by the acquired assets, along with existing and expanded liquidity from the company's recently increased borrowing capacity.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Chief executive Rusty Hutson said: "The target assets are a perfect fit with our existing East Texas operations and offer meaningful opportunities for cost efficiencies upon completion of the acquisition.

"The accretive transaction adds scale to our Central region footprint and remains consistent with our strategy to focus on high-quality, low-decline producing assets at attractive PV values where we can apply our Smarter Asset Management approach to enhance margins and grow free cash flow."