Kirkland & Ellis partner Sean Wheeler led a team of lawyers advising Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co. in its pending acquisition by Canadian company Encana Corp. in a deal valued at approximately $7.7 billion. While starting to work on the deal for Newfield, Wheeler was also wrapping up another large cross-border deal.

He represented Houston-based offshore driller Rowan Cos. in its pending acquisition by London-based Ensco, another big offshore driller, in a $2.4 billion all-stock transaction.

“It just so happened these transactions—they were sequenced such that they were manageable,” said Wheeler, who moved to Kirkland from Latham & Watkins on July 30.

“I honestly feel like I'm in my element. It's what I enjoy the most,” Wheeler said about handling more than one M&A cross-border, multi-billion dollar transaction at once.

Wheeler said Rowan is a longtime client of his, and he started working on its deal with Ensco back in March. He said the timing allowed him to work on both that and the Newfield transaction. Wheeler said he had key support from other Kirkland lawyers, especially Houston corporate partner Doug Bacon.

Newfield is using Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in addition to Kirkland. Encana turned to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Canadian firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon.

On Thursday, Encana and Newfield announced a definitive agreement calling for Encana to acquire all outstanding shares of Newfield common stock for about $5.5 billion and also assume $2.2 billion of Newfield debt. The combination will create a multi-basin company operating in the Permian Basin, the STACK/SCOOP area and the Montney Shale in Canada.

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies but is subject to approval from shareholders of both companies, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close during the first quarter of 2019.

In addition to Wheeler and Bacon, the Kirkland team for Newfield is led by corporate partners Anthony Speier and Rahul Vashi, both of Houston, and Ryan Gorsche and Benjamin Adelson, both of Dallas. Others are tax partners David Wheat of Houston and Dallas, and Mike Carew of Chicago; executive compensation partner Scott Price of New York; environmental transactions partner Paul Tanaka of San Francisco and Houston; and employee benefits partner Alexandra Mihalas of Chicago.

The Wachtell team for Newfield includes corporate partners Daniel Neff and Gordon Moodie and tax partner T. Eiko Stange, all of New York.

At Paul Weiss, the team for Encana includes corporate partners Adam Givertz and Andrew Foley, both of New York and Toronto, and Jeffrey Marell of New York; tax partner David Sicular of New York; and employee benefits partner Lawrence Witdorchic of New York.

The Blakes team for Encana includes corporate partners Chad Schneider, Jeff Bakker and Noralee Bradley, all of Calgary.

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