Hunton is representing the Audit Committee of Viper Energy, Inc., an affiliate of Diamondback Energy, Inc., to acquire certain mineral and royalty interests from subsidiaries of Diamondback for $1 billion in cash and approximately 69.6 million newly issued shares of Viper’s Class B common stock and a corresponding number of member interests of Viper’s operating subsidiary in a drop-down transaction.

Viper was formed by Diamondback to own, acquire and exploit oil and natural gas properties in North America, with a focus on owning and acquiring mineral and royalty interests in oil-weighted basins, primarily the Permian Basin. Diamondback is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Midland, Texas focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and exploitation of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas.

The Hunton deal team was led by M&A partner Mike O'Leary and Oil & Gas partner Carl von Merz and included Cheryl Phillips, Sami Khan, Allison Mantor, Lexi Williams and Field Daniel.