Quest Entities Announce Definitive Merger Agreement

Mon Jul 6, 2009 6:30am EDT
 
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OKLAHOMA CITY, July 6, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Quest Resource Corporation
(Nasdaq:QRCP) ("QRCP"), Quest Energy Partners, L.P. (Nasdaq:QELP) ("QELP") and
Quest Midstream Partners, L.P. ("QMLP") have entered into a definitive merger
agreement (the "Agreement") pursuant to which the three companies would
recombine. The recombination would be effected by forming a new, yet to be
named, publicly-traded corporation (which we refer to as "NewGasCo" in this
press release) that, through a series of mergers and entity conversions
(collectively, the "Merger"), would wholly-own all three entities. The Agreement
follows the execution of a non-binding letter of intent by the three Quest
entities that was publicly announced on June 3, 2009.

NewGasCo's strategy will be to create shareholder value through the efficient
development of unconventional resource plays, including coalbed methane in the
Cherokee Basin of southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma and the Marcellus
Shale in the Appalachian Basin. NewGasCo will remain focused on reducing
operating and overhead costs and anticipates significant first year overhead
cost savings, primarily as the result of the simplified structure.

While the Quest entities anticipate completion of the Merger before year-end, it
remains subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions, including, among
others, the arrangement of one or more satisfactory credit facilities for
NewGasCo, the approval of the transaction by the stockholders of QRCP and the
unitholders of QELP and QMLP, and consents from each entity's existing lenders.
There can be no assurance that these conditions will be met or that the Merger
will occur.

QRCP has, subject to certain conditions, agreed to vote the common and
subordinated units of QELP and QMLP it owns in favor of the Merger and the
holders of approximately 43% of the common units of QMLP have, subject to
certain conditions, agreed to vote their common units in favor of the Merger.

Under the terms of the Agreement, each share of QRCP would be exchanged for
0.0575 shares of NewGasCo common stock, each common unit of QELP (other than
those owned by QRCP) would be exchanged for 0.2859 shares of NewGasCo common
stock, and each common unit of QMLP would be exchanged for 0.4033 shares of
NewGasCo common stock. Upon completion of the Merger, the equity of NewGasCo
would be owned approximately 44% by current QMLP equity holders, approximately
33% by current QELP equity holders, and approximately 23% by current QRCP equity
holders. The transaction is expected to be tax free to QRCP's shareholders and
taxable to the unitholders of QELP and QMLP.

At closing, the board of directors of NewGasCo will be comprised of nine
directors, which will include three existing independent directors of the board
of directors of the general partner of QELP, three existing directors of the
board of directors of the general partner of QMLP, two existing independent
directors of the board of directors of QRCP, and the Chief Executive Officer of
the Quest entities. Gary M. Pittman, current Chairman of the board of directors
of QELP, is expected to serve as Chairman of NewGasCo's board of directors at
closing. David C. Lawler, current President and Chief Executive Officer of each
Quest entity, is expected to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of
NewGasCo at closing and, in turn, will be a member of the board of directors of
NewGasCo.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated rendered its opinion to the conflicts
committee of QELP's general partner that the exchange ratio to be utilized to
exchange the QELP common units in the Merger is fair, from a financial point of
view to the holders of QELP common units (other than QRCP, the general partner
of QELP and their respective affiliates). Mitchell Energy Advisors, LLC rendered
its opinion on the fairness, from a financial point of view, of the merger
consideration to be received by QRCP stockholders to the board of directors of
QRCP. Morgan Stanley is acting as financial advisor to the board of directors of
QMLP's general partner in connection with the merger. Berenson & Company has
been engaged by each Quest entity to act as their financial advisor in
restructuring their current debt obligations into a form satisfactory for
NewGasCo. Mayer Brown LLP is serving as legal advisor to the Conflicts Committee
of QELP's general partner, Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP is serving as legal
advisor for QRCP, and Baker Botts LLP is serving as legal advisor to QMLP.

Management Comment

David C. Lawler, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Quest entities
said, "We are pleased to announce additional progress on the recombination of
the Quest entities with the execution of a definitive merger agreement. While
much work must still be completed, we believe the proposed recombination makes
the Quest entities more competitive in today's market environment by allowing us
to further reduce costs, increase operational efficiency, and simplify our
organizational structure."

About Quest Resource Corporation, Quest Energy Partners, and Quest Midstream
Partners

Quest Resource Corporation is a fully integrated E&P company that owns:
producing properties and acreage in the Appalachian Basin of the northeastern
United States; 100% of the general partner and a 57% limited partner interest in
Quest Energy Partners, L.P., including subordinated units; and 85% of the
general partner and a 36.4% of the limited partner interests in the form of
subordinated units in Quest Midstream Partners, L.P. Quest Resource operates and
controls Quest Energy Partners and Quest Midstream Partners through its
ownership of their general partners. For more information, visit the Quest
Resource website at www.qrcp.net and the Quest Midstream Partners website at
www.qmlp.net. Quest Resource routinely posts important information in the
"Investors" section of its website.

The Quest Resource Corporation logo is available at 
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5732

Quest Energy Partners, L.P. was formed by QRCP to acquire, exploit and develop
natural gas and oil properties and to acquire, own, and operate related assets.
QELP owns more than 2,400 wells and is the largest producer of natural gas in
the Cherokee Basin, which is located in southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma.
QELP also owns natural gas and oil producing wells in the Appalachian Basin of
the northeastern United States and in Seminole County, Oklahoma. For more
information, visit the Quest Energy Partners website at www.qelp.net. QELP
routinely posts important information in the "Investors" section of its website.

Quest Midstream Partners, L.P. was formed by QRCP to acquire and develop
transmission and gathering assets in the midstream natural gas and oil industry.
QMLP owns more than 2,000 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines and over
1,100 miles of interstate natural gas transmission pipelines in Oklahoma,
Kansas, and Missouri. For more information, visit the Quest Midstream Partners
website at www.qmlp.net.

Additional information

In connection with the proposed merger, a registration statement of NewGasCo,
which will include proxy statements of QRCP and QELP, and other materials, will
be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO
CAREFULLY READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND
THESE OTHER MATERIALS REGARDING THE PROPOSED MERGER WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE,
BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT NEWGASCO, QRCP, QELP, QMLP
AND THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors may obtain a free copy of the
registration statement and the proxy statement/prospectus when they are
available and other documents containing information about NewGasCo QRCP, QMLP
and QELP, without charge, at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov, QRCP's web site
at www.qrcp.net, and QELP's web site at www.qelp.net. Copies of the registration
statement and the proxy statement/prospectus may also be obtained for free by
directing a request to Quest Resource Corporation, Quest Energy Partners, L.P.
or Quest Midstream Partners, L.P. at 210 Park Avenue, Suite 2750, Oklahoma City,
OK 73102; Attn: Jack Collins, Telephone: (405) 600-7704.

This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of
an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor
shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer,
solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification
under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

Participants in Solicitation

QRCP and QELP and their respective directors, officers and certain other members
of management may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies
from their respective stockholders and unitholders in respect of the merger.
Information about these persons can be found in QRCP's and QELP's respective
annual reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 as filed with
the SEC on June 3, 2009 and June 16, 2009, respectively. Additional information
about the interests of such persons in the solicitation of proxies in respect of
the merger will be included in the registration statement and the proxy
statement/prospectus to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed
transaction.

Forward-Looking Statements

Opinions, forecasts, projections or statements other than statements of
historical fact, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this announcement, including
anticipated benefits and other aspects of the proposed Merger are made pursuant
to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Although QRCP and QELP believe that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, they can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to be correct. In particular, the forward-looking
statements made in this release are based upon a number of financial and
operating assumptions that are subject to a number of risks, including the
conditions to the Merger discussed in this press release, the possibility that
the anticipated benefits from the proposed Merger cannot by fully realized, the
ongoing worldwide crisis in the capital markets, uncertainty involved in
exploring for and developing new natural gas reserves, the sale prices of
natural gas and oil, labor and raw material costs, the availability of
sufficient capital resources to carry out the anticipated level of new well
development and construction of related pipelines, environmental issues, weather
conditions, competition and general market conditions. Actual results may differ
materially due to a variety of factors, some of which may not be foreseen by
QRCP and QELP. These risks, and other risks are detailed in QRCP's and QELP's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including risk factors
listed in QRCP's and QELP's latest annual reports on Form 10-K and other filings
with the SEC. You can find QRCP's and QELP's filings with the SEC at
www.qrcp.net and www.qelp.net or at www.sec.gov. By making these forward-looking
statements, QRCP and QELP undertake no obligation to update these statements for
revisions or changes after the date of this release.

-0-
CONTACT: Quest Resource Corporation
         Jack Collins, EVP Finance/Corp. Development
         (405) 702-7460
         Websites: www.qrcp.net & www.qelp.net

 

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