Comstock Resources, an independent energy company, completed the acquisition of Covey Park Energy, an oil & natural gas company, from Denham Capital for $2.2bn in a cash and stock transaction. The acquisition of Covey Park complements and expands Comstock's position in the Haynesville shale and accelerates its progress towards its strategic and financial goals of sustainable free cash flow generation and reduced leverage. "After a year of evaluating several potential targets in the Haynesville shale, we believe we have found the perfect merger partner. This merger is an excellent fit with our existing acreage and continues our strategic plan of creating significant scale and resource depth in the Haynesville shale basin. The combined company will have a stronger balance sheet, enhanced by a large inventory of high quality, low cost and high return drilling opportunities. In integrating Covey Park we plan to focus on operating efficiency and having a combined drilling program that provides for substantial free cash flow to achieve our goal of reducing our leverage," M. Jay Allison, Comstock's Chief Executive Officer.