Houlihan Lokey Advises Vital Energy on Sale to Crescent Energy

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Vital Energy, Inc. (“VTLE” or “Vital”) has been acquired by Crescent Energy Company (Crescent) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.1 billion. The transaction will establish a top-10 independent upstream operator with a consistent and free-cash-flow-focused strategy, scaled positions, and flexible capital allocation across premier basins. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Vital shareholders will receive 1.9062 shares of Crescent Class A common stock for each share of Vital common stock, representing a 15% premium to the 30-day VWAP as of August 22, 2025. The transaction closed on December 15, 2025.

This transaction is immediately accretive, offering compelling value for all shareholders.

• Strong cash-on-cash investment returns with valuation covered by existing production base; highly accretive across CFFO, FCF, and NAV per share; $90 million to $100 million of immediate annual synergies with potential for significant incremental operating efficiencies.
• Crescent to implement a lower-activity, higher-free-cash-flow business plan to align assets with its consistent strategy; high-grade capital allocation improves investor returns and supports peer-leading dividend.
• Leverage accretive business plan plus ~$1 billion pipeline of noncore divestitures; creates the largest liquids-weighted producer without IG status.

Houlihan Lokey is proud to have acted as lead financial advisor to VTLE on the transaction.

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