TPG Capital has completed its $500 million acquisition of Valerus Compression Services. The company provides oil and gas handling equipment and services such as natural gas compression, processing and treating. The $500 million of capital gives TPG just over a majority stake in Valerus and is being used to pay down Valerus' debt and build a stronger balance sheet, as well as for future expansion.
There have been 66 private equity investments in the energy industry during 2009, according to the PitchBook Platform. That total is at a five-year low but represented about 7.1% of the total deal flow in 2009, slightly above the industry's eight year average of 6.9%. In total, $7.38 billion was invested in the sector by PE firms, with a median deal amount of $50 million. Energy Production and Energy Exploration were the top sectors with 13 deals apiece followed by Energy Transportation with 8 deals. The top investors for the year are Energy Spectrum Investors and Energy Investors Funds with three completed investments each.
