Capital raise · Energy Services

Energy Services Capital Partner LPA: An Independent Sponsor's Counsel

Securities and M&A counsel for independent sponsors drafting energy services transactions, from LOI to close to the capital markets that open up afterward.

EV range $10M to $140M EV EBITDA $2.5M to $24M Audience Independent Sponsor
The deal context

The economics on a energy services platform deal usually hinge on a handful of structural decisions. Capital Partner LPA is one of them.

The typical energy services platform sits at $10M to $140M EV with EBITDA in the $2.5M to $24M range. The thesis runs on regional oilfield service or renewable services consolidation. Underwrite the trough, not the peak. Capital partners will.

The moves

How Capital Partner LPA actually gets structured.

  1. Anchor on a 20 percent carry above an 8 percent preferred return, 50/50 catch-up.

  2. Build a one-vote, one-LP majority for any waterfall change.

  3. Define key-person and removal-for-cause provisions narrowly.

  4. Make distributions quarterly, with an annual true-up against the waterfall.

  5. In energy services, layer in earnout indexed to gross margin instead of revenue as part of the Capital Partner LPA workstream.

The common mistake

Reusing a fund LPA template for a deal-by-deal structure. The economics, governance, and waterfall need to be different.

Jason's take
"The LPA outlives the deal. Draft it like the next ten deals will be governed by the same paper."
Jason Powell · Capital Partner LPA
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

The capital that opens up post-close, from refinancing to growth equity to strategic exit, runs through a small set of Wall Street relationships. That network is built in.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
TALK TO JASON

An LOI on the desk, a energy services target, and a Capital Partner LPA question worth a real conversation.

Twenty minutes of practitioner-grade input from a securities attorney whose first move is to read the deal, not the engagement letter.