Steve Lake is a shareholder in the Tulsa office of GableGotwals. He has more than 30 years of legal experience, both at a law firm and as General Counsel of publicly traded companies. He focuses on various business and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, energy transactions, corporate finance transactions, and commercial law matters. He has represented public and private companies in various M&A and financing transactions, including:
Representative Experience:
Mergers & Acquisitions:
- $1.35 billion acquisition of natural gas liquids (NGL) business
- $1+ billion auction bid to purchase crude oil pipeline assets
- $1+ billion auction bid to purchase gas gathering and transportation assets
- $645 million sale of oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) assets
- $528 million sale of gas gathering and processing assets
- $450 million acquisition of NGL pipeline development project
- $435 million sale of refined petroleum products terminals
- $345 million acquisition of gas pipeline systems
- $305 million acquisition of gas processing plants and gathering and transmission assets
- $300 million sale of oil and gas E&P assets
- $300 million acquisition of NGL pipeline assets
- $250 million sale of three refined petroleum products terminals located in Connecticut, Delaware and Louisiana
- $240 million acquisition of oil and gas E&P assets and related gathering systems
- $182 million cash-out merger involving two public E&P companies
- $175 million acquisition of the controlling general partnership interest in a master limited partnership (MLP)
- $145 million acquisition of oil and gas mineral interests in the Permian Basin
- $60 million sale, and concurrent $27.5 million purchase, of oil and gas E&P properties in Oklahoma and Texas
- $58 million purchase of oil and gas E&P properties in the Big Horn, Permian and Powder River Basins
Financing Transactions:
- $1.4 billion offering of senior notes
- $800 million public offering of senior notes
- $600 million public offering of senior notes
- $402.5 million public offering of equity units
- $400 million offering of senior notes
- $350 million private placement of notes followed by registered exchange offer
- $194 million secondary offering of common stock
- $150 million public offering of common stock
- $50 million purchase of convertible preferred units in an energy MLP
Steve previously served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE), a Fortune 500 energy company, and ONEOK Partners, a publicly-traded master limited partnership. Prior to that he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for McJunkin Red Man Corporation (NYSE: MRC), a distributor for the energy industry.
As General Counsel, Steve supervised the legal aspects of a number of significant transactions, including:
- Multiple M&A transactions
- Multiple public offerings of equity and debt
- Corporate and MLP “at-the-market” equity programs and commercial paper programs
- Spin-off of a publicly-traded natural gas utility company
- Roll-up (merger) of a publicly-traded master limited partnership with a public parent
Steve was a member of the Board of Trustees of Holland Hall (a pre-K to grade 12 independent school) from 2017 to 2024, including serving as Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee. In addition, he was active with Saint Simeon’s Episcopal Home for more than 30 years, including serving as President and Chair of the Board and as Chair of the Legal Committee.