Atman Shukla

Atman’s representative experience at Sidley includes:

Private Equity / Investment Transactions

• Represented Twin Eagle Pipeline Company, LLC in its sale to Ironwood Midstream Energy Partners II, LLC of 100% of the equity interests of an entity owning the Gardendale and Asherton gathering systems in the Eagle Ford shale, which together included 137 miles of active crude oil gathering pipeline with connections to multiple long-haul pipelines, allowing access to the U.S. Gulf Coast, Three Rivers and Houston markets.
• Represented Argo Infrastructure Partners in its agreement to acquire 100% of the equity interests of the holding companies owning the Oneta Power Generation Project, a 1,127-megawatt power plant in Coweta, Oklahoma, and the Carville Power Generation Project, a 516-megawatt power plant in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, from a portfolio company of LS Power Equity Partners
• Represented I Squared Capital in the formation of a joint venture with Blackstone Energy Partners for the expansion of midstream activities in the Delaware Basin, including the ongoing construction of the Permian Highway Pipeline with Kinder Morgan, as well as the concurrent acquisitions of Caprock Midstream and Pinnacle Midstream by Eagle Claw Midstream, involving cash commitments by I Squared Capital exceeding $500 million, a transaction recognized as the 2019 “Energy, Power & Utilities Deal of the Year” by The Deal’s Middle Market Awards
• Represented Enbridge in its acquisition of, and exercise of, an option to purchase an approximate 26% equity interest in the Gray Oak Pipeline development project with Phillips 66 Partners for the transportation of crude oil from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale to several destinations along the Texas Gulf Coast
• Represented an investment trust in its purchase, from an energy-focused private equity firm, of a business engaged in the financing of oil and gas producers for approximately $40 million in aggregate enterprise value
• Represented an energy-focused private equity firm in its sale of oilfield services assets for approximately $15 million
• Represented a preferred investor in the redemption and restructuring of its preferred equity securities in a joint venture owning an interest in a gas gathering facility in Wyoming
• Represented an energy-focused private equity firm in its equity commitment with a management team pursuing investment opportunities in the minerals space
• Represented an energy-focused private equity firm in its equity commitment with a management team pursuing upstream acquisition and divestiture opportunities
• Represented a private equity firm in its creation of a joint venture, as well as its subsequent purchase and sale of distressed upstream oil and gas assets valued at approximately $40 million
• Represented an energy-focused private equity firm in the structuring of its management-related arrangements in connection with an initial public offering of an oil and gas exploration and production portfolio company
• Represented GE Oil & Gas in its investment in $25 million of convertible preferred securities of Tellurian, the developer of the Driftwood LNG project, prior to its public listing via a merger with Magellan
• Represented a hedge fund in its investment in preferred securities of a publicly-traded oilfield services company
• Represented an energy-focused commodities trading firm in its minority stake investment in a crude oil terminal development project contemplating an aggregate investment of approximately $50 million

M&A

• Representing Enbridge Inc. in the $132 million purchase of crude storage assets from Blueknight Energy Partners, including approximately 6.6 million barrels of crude oil storage in Cushing, Oklahoma
• Represented GE EFS in the sale of ARC Logistics Partners and GE EFS’ interest in the Joliet terminal to Zenith Energy
• Represented Range Resources Corporation in its stock-for-stock acquisition of Memorial Resources Development Corp. for aggregate transaction value of approximately $4.2 billion
• Represented I Squared Capital in its acquisition of Pinnacle Midstream, an oil and natural gas gathering, processing and midstream operator in the Delaware Basin
• Represented an energy-focused private equity firm in the purchase of oil and gas assets in the Barnett formation valued at approximately $250 million
• Represented Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners in the sale by its portfolio company Casper Crude to Rail Holdings LLC of all the equity interests in a crude-to-rail loading facility located in Casper, WY to USD Partners LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership, for aggregate consideration of $225 million
• Represented an energy-focused private equity firm in the sale by its portfolio company of upstream oil and gas properties in Wyoming for approximately $600 million
• Represented an energy-focused private equity firm in the purchase by its portfolio company of upstream oil and gas properties in the Permian basin for aggregate consideration of approximately $100 million
• Represented a major banking institution in the sale of a power project to a private equity firm
• Represented numerous private equity investors and other private entities in the preparation of bid packages for potential acquisition and investment opportunities

Aviation

• Represented United Airlines in arrangements with urban air mobility company Archer Aviation relating to the production of short-haul, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft
• Represented United Airlines, Inc. in connection with the purchase of ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. from SkyWest, Inc. by ManaAir LLC, an entity in which United has a minority investment, and the purchase by United of aircraft-related equipment from ExpressJet Airlines, Inc.
• Represented a major airline in its negotiation and closing of minority stake investments in, and new capacity purchase arrangements with, regional airlines
• Represented a major airline in a divestiture of an overseas subsidiary providing travel-related services for aggregate consideration of approximately $15 million
• Represented a major airline in the restructuring of its commercial arrangement with a regional airline

Prior to joining Sidley, Atman’s representative experience includes:

Public M&A

• Represented a publicly traded upstream master limited partnership in its approximately $614 million unit-for-unit merger with another publicly traded upstream master limited partnership
• Represented a publicly traded upstream master limited partnership in its approximately $3 billion unit-for-unit merger with another publicly traded upstream master limited partnership
• Represented a publicly traded master limited partnership in its approximately $1.8 billion cash-and-unit acquisition of a publicly traded entity which owned retail convenience stores and distributed wholesale fuel
• Represented a publicly traded master limited partnership in its approximately $1.3 billion contribution of its midstream business to another publicly traded midstream master limited partnership
• Represented a publicly traded midstream master limited partnership in its approximately $8 billion unit-for-unit merger with another publicly traded midstream master limited partnership
• Represented a major chemicals corporation in its subsequently withdrawn unsolicited bid to acquire a large manufacturer of vinyl construction products
• Represented a large private equity fund in its approximately $775 million sale of the general partner interest in a publicly traded downstream master limited partnership

Private Equity

• Represented a large private equity fund in the sale to a major renewables investor of a 50 percent stake in a joint venture for the operation and development of solar projects
• Represented a private equity fund in an approximately $240 million tender offer by its portfolio company of a publicly traded provider of land drilling services and equipment contractor
• Represented a major upstream company in its approximately $2.4 billion sale of a refinery
• Represented a private equity fund in its approximately $127 million combination of its coal producing portfolio company with a publicly traded Canadian coal company

Aviation

• Represented a major commercial airline in the negotiation and execution of several new and amended capacity purchase agreements with its regional jet partners
• Represented a regional airline in a subsequently withdrawn proposed spinoff from a major airline

• Represented several sibling children from Honduras in their attempts to obtain Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, as well as their attempts to obtain asylum 
• Advised Farmer’s Pride Limited, an enterprise whose mission is to provide innovative and affordable solutions to small farmers in Kenya, on equity and debt financing and related matters

• Houston Bar Association
• Leadership Class, Institute for Energy Law (2020–2021)
• Member of Executive Board, Pratham USA, Houston chapter (2016–2018)
• Participant, Pathfinder Program, Legal Council for Legal Diversity (2015)