<article><p>Private equity company Warburg Pincus is investing $500mn in a start-up oil and gas exploration company Independent Resources Management. </p><p>The company is targeting distressed assets and seeks to help companies shore up their balance sheets. It will target onshore assets in the Midcontinent and the Rockies region, with an initial focus on the Anadarko basin, it said. The Anadarko basin stretches across Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, western Kansas and Southeastern Colorado.</p><p>Independent Resources will focus on areas with large amounts of hydrocarbons in place and a low recovery factor, it said. </p><p>A 50pc drop in crude prices since June is providing private equity and other companies with deep pockets a window to snap up assets as producers look to offload them to repay debt and fund operations. Apart from asset sales, companies are also making steep cuts to their capital spending and issuing new shares. </p><p>Last week, Linn Energy signed a $1bn equity deal with private investor Quantum Energy to fund acquisitions and pay for the development of oil and gas assets. The deal allows Linn "to capture acquisition opportunities during distressed market conditions," it said. </p><p>Also last week, Whiting Petroleum issued new shares and debt notes to raise a total of about $3bn to repay debt after it last year to take over Bakken peer Kodiak for $3.8bn. </p><p>mg/dcb</p><p><br> Send comments to <a href="mailto:feedback@argusmedia.com" target="_parent"> feedback@argusmedia.com </a></p><p><u><a href="http://www.argusmedia.com/Info/General/News" target="_TOP"> Request more information </a></u> about Argus' energy and commodity news, data and analysis services. </p><p><i> Copyright © 2015 Argus Media Ltd - <a href="http://www.argusmedia.com/" target="_TOP"> www.argusmedia.com </a> - All rights reserved. </i></p></article>
