HOUSTON – The $168 billion private equity shop Apollo Global Management is diving deeper into U.S. shale oil and gas with the purchase of Express Energy Services, one of the largest private companies headquartered in Houston.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company has 1,700 employees, with about 125 in Houston.
The capital infusion is a chance for operational growth in businesses that have taken off during the U.S. shale boom, including well construction and well testing, Express Energy Services CEO Darron Anderson said in an interview with Fuelfix on Wednesday.
“We’ve created a strong brand for ourselves, and our values completely aligned with what Apollo was looking for,” Anderson said. “We’ll continue to grow the company. We’re still early in the evolution of what we can do.”
Anderson said a typical private equity investment finds an exit five to seven years after the initial backing, but said he was hesitant to talk about a timeline for the company’s future options, which include a sale or an initial public offering.
“An IPO is always an option for the future, but we’re not entering this relationship focused on getting to an IPO,” he said. “You don’t run a company for the end game, you increase value on a daily basis.”
The 14-year-old company collected $374 million in revenue last year, and was No. 42 on the most recent Houston Chronicle list of Houston’s largest private firms.
In Houston, Energy Express Services operates what it calls “Express University,” a $15 million facility equipped with tools to train employees how to operate its main businesses, including installing production casing in wells, rathole drilling, and testing wells’ production capabilities.
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