HOUSTON (November 29, 2010) GulfStar Group is pleased to announce the majority recapitalization of HLI Energy Services, Inc. (“HLI” or the “Company”) by Prophet Equity LP (“Prophet”). GulfStar Group served as exclusive financial advisor to HLI throughout the transaction, which closed on November 12th, 2010.
HLI, headquartered in Cleburne, Texas, is a provider of oilfield services to oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Barnett, Haynesville, Marcellus and Eagle Ford shale regions. The Company’s primary lines of business include solids control services, well-site construction, production water transportation and roustabout services. HLI provides these services to most of the major E&P operators in the aforementioned shale regions.
The GulfStar transaction team included Managing Director Alan Blackburn, Senior Vice President John O’Brien, and Analyst Jay Stone. “We expect the partnership of HLI and Prophet to be very successful,” said Alan Blackburn. “HLI has demonstrated its ability to establish operations in regions with increased drilling activity. Now, combined with Prophet’s hands-on approach, we believe that the Company can continue to expand its footprint and service offerings to become a dominant, one-stop service provider.”
“Prophet Equity is excited to partner with such an experienced team and invest in the growth of this vital, market leading company to both the site construction and solids control oilfield services markets in the U.S.” commented Ross Gatlin, CEO at Prophet Equity. “This transaction leverages our uniquely supportive strategic and operational toolkit, while underscoring our industry-leading capabilities in executing an owner-operator recapitalization transaction in an expedient manner,” Gatlin added.
About the Buyer
Prophet Equity is a private equity firm that uses proven, data-driven analytical techniques coupled with over 100 years of investment and management experience to invest in, unlock, and realize future value today. Partnering with owners and management teams, Prophet Equity’s team utilizes a toolkit that is Fortune 500 tested and private equity proven to diagnose and drive dramatic value creation. Representative situations include corporate carve outs, special situations, succession planning, recapitalizations, reorganizations, bankruptcies, turnarounds, acquisitions, and mergers. For more information, please visit www.prophetequity.com or call the firm at +1.817.898.1500.
About GulfStar
GulfStar Group is a leading middle market investment and merchant bank headquartered in Houston, Texas. The firm specializes in providing merger and acquisition advisory services, institutional private placements of equity and debt, restructuring and turnaround advisory services and general corporate finance advisory services to companies with revenues or enterprise values generally ranging from $25 million to $350 million. Since its formation in 1990, GulfStar has completed more than 450 assignments across a variety of industries. Through its merchant banking affiliate, the firm also makes equity and subordinated debt co-investments.