PRIVATE BUYS

摘要

Forget notions of whether the downturn has created a buyer's or seller's market. It's a private company's market. At the welcoming reception of Hart Energy's Energy Capital Conference in Austin, I bumped into one of dozens of dealmakers, executives and advisors sipping drinks at the Omni Barton Creek. How were things going at his firm? Busy—transactions were in progress, but in the $100-million range. So far, no sustained M&A had surfaced, he said. The first quarter of 2015 had been a shopping spree for private independents buying public corporations' noncore holdings—largely gas.