Natural Resources LBO / Buyouts

Very basic question, apologies if dumb. What are the verticals in NatRes that get the most buyout activity and why? Also would love to get some input on which verticals are less "pigeon-holey"

From my understating, the verticals are O&G, power, utilities, metals and mining, chemicals. Am I missing any?

Thanks all

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Anything non-upstream (the actual E&P and mining) are all LBO/buyout candidates. There are dedicated energy and infra funds that will invest in midstream, downstream, and even oilfield services. PU&I and chemicals are definitely buyout worthy and even industrials-focused PE funds will dabble in this space (building materials, electrical infrastructure, etc.). For the upstream sub-vertical within O&G and metals & mining, even though they don't get looks from PE, there has been a rise in the last half decade or so in royalty & streaming funds. As for the latest developments/trends in the industry, most natural resource groups are beginning to expand into the renewable energy/energy transition/battery metals space. In terms of least "pigeon-holey" verticals, anything non-upstream and non-midstream will be fine (operate like regular companies you can throw a vanilla DCF template at). Upstream: too much NAV and weird accounting stuff that's very niche. Midstream: complex structures and modelling for MLP's that operate more similarly to REIT's. This is solid info (especially coming from a prospect), give me bananas.

EDIT: Also congrats on GS NR team since they're the only bank that groups those verticals together. Most places have separate PU&I coverage groups, have the chemicals and metals & mining verticals lumped under industrials, and have O&G run independently out of Houston.

 

Why is it there is so much m&a activity between midstream O&G companies but comparatively so few between upstream O&G companies? On the SEC I can find dozens of decks for midstream MLPs but like 0 for upstream. Please feel free to correct me.

 

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