Texan energy firm in discounted PP with GSO and Magnetar

Austin, Texas-based Jones Energy has placed $250 million of discounted senior unsecured notes with GSO Capital Partners and Magnetar Capital. The company placed the 9.25 percent 2023 senior unsecured notes at 94.59 percent of par value.

The borrower will use the private placement proceeds to repay an outstanding revolving credit facility, the company said in a statement last week (10 February).

“This deal further solidifies our capital structure and allows us to execute on our long-term growth plan while providing us with the flexibility to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise,” Jonny Jones, founder, chairman and chief executive of Jones Energy, said in a statement.

Barclays Capital acted as the placement agent on the private market transaction.

The deal is the most recent in a flurry of recent activity where lenders are stepping in to help troubled energy companies in the wake of falling oil prices.

Jones Energy is an independent oil and natural gas company that develops and acquires oil and natural gas properties in the Anadarko and Arkoma basins of Texas and Oklahoma.

GSO Capital is the credit arm of private equity firm Blackstone. The firm has $72.9 billion under management and is in the process of raising two energy funds to capitalize on the dislocation in oil markets. The firm made a $500 million reverse convertible debt investment in LINN Energy at the end of last year. GSO is headquartered in New York.

Chicago-based Magnetar Capital is a credit hedge fund headed by founder and chief executive Alec Litowitz. The firm has $10 billion in assets under management and made its name shorting subprime mortgages ahead of the credit crunch of 2008.