A group of private investment firms, some with longstanding ties to the oil and gas industry, bought a Denver natural gas producer for $1.84 billion in a deal struck on Wednesday, the Denver Business Journal reported. Denver-based PureWest Energy LLC, the largest natural gas producer in Wyoming, will keep its local headquarters and its executive team in place but is now owned by a consortium of family offices and private equity funds. CEO Chris Valdez said that the new ownership will fortify the company, which has grown in downtown Denver since it formed out of the bankruptcy of a predecessor natural gas business and acquired some neighboring Wyoming gas operations. PureWest used to be known as Ultra Petroleum and UP Energy, a publicly traded company that moved to Denver from Texas in 2018. It reorganized and shed $2 billion in debt through chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 during the oil and gas crash set off by the pandemic, and it emerged owned by its lenders operating under new management and adopting the PureWest Energy name. The group of buyers that acquired PureWest calls itself the PW Consortium.
