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WFW advises IPR on acquisition of Egyptian oil & gas portfolio from DGE27 October 2020

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Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised IPR Energy Group (“IPR”) on its financing and acquisition of certain onshore Egyptian producing oil and gas assets from Dana Gas Egypt (“DGE”) for a consideration of up to US$236m.

DGE’s parent company, Abu Dhabi-listed Dana Gas, is the Middle East’s first and largest regional private sector natural gas company established in December 2005. IPR is a leading private E&P operator in Egypt with nine concessions and a strong track record of enhancing the recovery of mature producing oil and gas fields. IPR’s production will grow to over 45,000 boped through the acquisition of the 100% operated working interests in the El Manzala, West El Manzala, West El Qantara and North El Salhiya onshore concessions and associated development leases in Egypt.

The multi-disciplinary WFW London team advising IPR was led by Partners Chris Kilburn, Global Oil & Gas Sector Head and Joe Levin, who leads the upstream finance team at WFW. They were supported by Senior Associate Sarah Williamson (Corporate) and Associates Alice Everley (Corporate), and Dominic Wong and Harry Osborne (both Finance). E&P specialist Partner Heike Trischmann, supported by Associate Sebastian Lello, advised on the due diligence aspects of the transaction, with tax advice provided by Senior Associate David Jacob and Associate Andrew Holland. Counsel Ahmed Agamy led the team from Matouk Bassiouny, who advised IPR on Egyptian law matters.

IPR’s SVP – Corporate Services & General Counsel, Andrew Galbreath commented: “I am proud to be have been part of the strong multidisciplinary deal team that helped us reach this important milestone. We were well counselled throughout the process by an agile and solutions-oriented WFW legal team. They are that rare international counsel that both know Egyptian oil and gas and strive to understand a client’s business beyond merely the legal framework of a particular deal. And that’s how counsel add value”.

Chris said: “We enjoyed working with IPR on what promises to be a transformative acquisition for them. This was a complex transaction with many components specific to the Egyptian oil and gas regime. Andrew’s leadership was key to the overall success of the process and enabled us to deliver an integrated service spanning E&P due diligence, corporate/M&A and finance expertise. This is our fourth oil and gas M&A deal in Egypt in 2020 and reflects both the levels of activity in the country and WFW’s leading position as a legal adviser to the sector there”.

Joe added: “This is the second financed M&A deal we’ve advised IPR on this year, demonstrating the continued willingness of commercial banks to invest in the Egyptian upstream sector despite challenging market conditions”.

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