Fulbright, Vinson Lead on Ecolab's $2.2 Billion Oil Field Cleaning Purchase

UPDATE, 10/16/12, 1:50 p.m. EDT: Additional firms and lawyers advising Ecolab on this deal have been added to the fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs.

Cleaning services company Ecolab Inc. said Friday it will pay $2.2 billion in stock and cash to buy Permian Mud Service Inc.—parent company of Champion Technologies and Corsicana Technologies.

St. Paul, Minnesota–based Ecolab will pay about $1.7 billion in cash, along with 8 million Ecolab shares, as part of the deal. Champion and Corsicana, both of which are based in Houston, produce specialty chemicals used by oil and gas companies to clean oil field equipment. Together, the two businesses employ more than 3,300 people globally and saw $1.2 billion in revenues last year.

Ecolab—which offers sanitation and maintenance services to a variety of industries—said in its announcement that the deal would strengthen its position in the fast-growing energy market. Ecolab expects to see $150 million in annual savings as a result of the deal before 2016. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.

Houston-based Fulbright & Jaworski corporate partners Gene Lewis and Efren Acosta are leading a team from the firm advising Ecolab according to a source close to the transaction. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom M&A partner Charles Mulaney, Jr. and M&A counsel Joseph Miron also provided Ecolab with some securities law advice, according to the company.