The first of five “Creek” companies was formed in 1999 with the initial acquisition of assets in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado.
These five companies invested $753 million in equity and returned in aggregate $2.46 billion of value to investors achieving an average 3.3x ROI and 39% IRR. The fourth Creek company, Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. (NYSE: BCEI), successfully executed an IPO in December 2011 at $17.00/share. During the two and a half years following the IPO, BCEI grew to a $3 billion enterprise trading as high as $61.35 per share in June 2014. In 2012, BCEI received the “Best Performance of the Year” award from the O&G Investor and achieved a record low coupon for a first time Single B rated E&P issuer in a $500 million offering of public debt (two tranches). BCEI was the recipient of the “2013 Colorado Corporate Growth Award” from the Association for Corporate Growth recognizing the Bonanza Creek companies for consistent and profitable growth and job creation.
Fifth Creek Energy Company (“Fifth Creek”) was founded in March 2015 and built an 80,332 contiguous net-acre position in the northern DJ Basin. Fifth Creek applied advanced horizontal drilling to 20 two-mile lateral wells in both the Niobrara and Codell formations. The company completed 10 of the two-mile lateral wells with advanced multi-stage frac technology achieving an average IP30 of over 1,000 Boe/d with an average liquids weighting of 91%. These 10 completed wells were among the all-time best producers in the basin. In March 2018 Fifth Creek merged with Bill Barrett to form HighPoint Resources in a predominantly stock transaction achieving a 3.7x ROI and an IRR of 106% over a 3.2 year period (March 2015 – May 2018).
Each of the Creek companies acquired and developed oil and gas assets located primarily in the Rocky Mountain Region and southwest Arkansas, applying technological advances in horizontal drilling, multi‐stage fracture stimulation and pin‐point fracturing with coil tubing. The Creek companies successfully applied multiple corporate structures and financings to maximize the return for investors, including private equity, mezzanine, second lien debt, side car equity investments, corporate mergers and joint ventures, and, successfully accessed public equity and debt markets. In addition, the Creek companies completed multiple senior debt transactions with premier lenders, including Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, Bank of Montreal, US Bank, Key Bank, Union Bank, Bank of Oklahoma, BNP Paribas and Macquarie. The Creek companies’ reputation for generating exceptional returns within a culture of Integrity, Teamwork and Transparency has resulted in each company being recognized among the best managed E&P organizations.