Lime Rock Resources II Closes at $410 Million

HOUSTON, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Lime Rock, a private equity firm focusing on the global energy sector, today announces the closing of Lime Rock Resources II with $410 million in total capital commitments. Like the first Lime Rock Resources fund, Lime Rock Resources II will seek to acquire, directly operate, and improve lower-risk oil and gas properties in the United States. Together with the Lime Rock Partners funds, which invest growth capital in energy companies worldwide, Lime Rock now manages private equity funds with $3.9 billion in total capital commitments.

35 institutional investors, including leading endowments, foundations, and pension funds, made capital commitments to Lime Rock Resources II. 68% of capital commitments came from existing Lime Rock investors, with the remainder from new investors. Lime Rock began marketing the fund in August 2008.

Eric Mullins, co-CEO of the Lime Rock Resources team, said, "When we launched the fundraising for Lime Rock Resources II, we had no idea of the economic turmoil that was to come only a month after the launch. To be able to count on the continued support of so many of our existing investors and to be able to win the trust of quite a few new investors during this challenging period has been a gratifying, and humbling, experience. We are excited to be able to begin our efforts to reward the trust of all the investors in Fund II."

Lime Rock closed the first Lime Rock Resources fund in 2005 with $456 million in total capital commitments. Based in Houston, the Lime Rock Resources team has completed eight major transactions. It has acquired oil and gas properties in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma and is seeking to acquire other mature properties nationwide. The Lime Rock Resources team's first fund has already returned over one-third of capital to investors through quarterly distributions of operating cash flow and property sales. Including the $600 million of acquisitions already completed, the two Lime Rock Resources funds have acquisition capacity of over $1.5 billion and investor equity capital of $866 million.

Charlie Adcock, co-CEO of the Lime Rock Resources team, added, "Both our investors and our team recognize the irony that the most difficult time to raise private equity capital is usually the most opportune time to deploy it. We are thankful to our investors for their extraordinary support over the last year. We now have significant equity capital to implement our strategy in an exciting time. We believe that, over the next few years, stress at many property holders as well as the continued rationalization of oil and gas portfolios will present opportunities for our team to acquire lower-risk properties and apply our intensive cost, efficiency, and operations focus to generate good long-term returns for our investors."

Thompson & Knight acted as counsel for Lime Rock during the fundraising.

For more information, please visit www.limerockresources.com.