LONDON: Diversified Energy (LSE: DEC; NYSE: DEC), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Maverick Natural Resources, a portfolio company of EIG for total consideration of approximately $1,275 million.

The acquisition combines two complementary asset packages, pairing high-quality Proved Developed Producing weighted production assets with the lowest corporate decline and capital intensity among peers.

The acquisition of Maverick by Diversified adds immediate scale, increases liquids production, and creates a combined company with long-term free cash flow generation, superior unit cash margins, and a compelling sustainability profile.

The acquisition further executes upon Diversified’s strategy for maintaining the optionality of multiple development opportunities through established joint venture partnerships across the combined portfolio of vast undeveloped acreage in multiple high-returning basins.

A portion of the acquisition directly offsets Diversified’s core Western Anadarko position with active development in the Cherokee Play, and provides a new Permian asset base with multiple zones in the Northern Delaware Basin.

The combined company is expected to generate substantial free cash flow, delivering strong, consistent shareholder value creation through disciplined debt reduction, a sustainable fixed dividend, and strategic share repurchases.

The combined company will have an enterprise value of approximately $3.8 billion and operate across five distinct operating regions, with a combined production base of approximately ~1,200 MMcfe/d (~200 Mboe/d).

Rusty Hutson, Jr., CEO of Diversified, commented: “This acquisition expands our unique and highly focused energy production company with a complementary portfolio of attractive, high-quality assets. We have a proven track record of unlocking value from acquisitions while maintaining our commitment to sustainability leadership, and this acquisition provides us with great assets and employees that complement this strategy.

The acquired producing assets have demonstrated leading well performance and are a natural fit with our operating advantage and existing acreage. Notably, the combined footprint in Oklahoma and the Western Anadarko Basin creates one of the largest in terms of production and acreage, which includes the emerging Cherokee formation.

Diversified shareholders will share in the significant upside potential of the combined company, with its cash flow projected to provide durable and consistent returns and enabling significant debt reduction, further enhancing our long-term value creation proposition. We view commodity, geography, asset, and business segment diversification as strategic advantages that drive more resilient and consistent free cash flow and long-term value creation for our combined company.

Diversified anticipates benefiting from the additional capital investment optionality for organic cash flow generation from joint venture partnerships that continue to optimize our combined high-quality asset base.  We plan to leverage Maverick’s experienced technical asset development team to unlock undeveloped acreage potential through an even larger combined footprint, and I am confident that Diversified’s management team will bring its expertise in efficiently integrating acquisitions to further expand our Smarter Asset Management practices.

We have created a strong platform of people and financial resources to build and operate an organization that continues to be the Right Company at the Right Time to responsibly produce American energy, deliver reliable free cash flow, and drive shareholder value.”

Rick Gideon, CEO of Maverick Natural Resources: “Today marks an important milestone for all of us at Maverick Natural Resources. We have great respect for the innovative approach and stewardship demonstrated by the team at Diversified and are pleased to enter into this partnership. Maverick has built a strong foundation of execution and efficiency across our portfolio, and we look forward to combining our complementary portfolio of assets with Diversified. I would also like to express my gratitude to the team at Maverick for their hard work and dedication in supporting our strategic efforts and contributing to this achievement.”