Fracking firm FTS International looks to crack Wall Street with IPO

April 17—FTS International, the Fort Worth-based oilfield services firm formerly known as Frac-Tech, now wants to crack Wall Street.

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In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, FTS said it hopes to raise as much as $100 million in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Timing and other details were not yet released.

FTS is a leading provider of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, services for drillers, and the company is active in several large fields, including the Permian, Eagle Ford, Marcellus, Utica and Haynesville.

With fracking, drillers pump water, sand and chemicals into underground formations at high pressure to break up rock and release oil and gas.

The move comes as FTS is recovering from a big slump caused by the downturn in oil and natural gas prices two years ago. According to the SEC filing, FTS reported a net loss of $188.5 million in 2016 on revenues of $532.2 million. And revenue has declined sharply — from $1.37 billion in 2015 and $2.37 billion in 2014.

FTS says it has seen a rebound in demand for fracking services as oil prices have doubled in the past year after bottoming out below $30 a barrel in February 2016. The company said it was able to start raising prices in the third quarter of last year and has reduced its costs.

“We believe this increase in demand coupled with industry contraction and the resulting reduction in hydraulic fracturing capacity since late 2014 will particularly benefit us,” the company said in its filing.

FTS is based in the 777 Main office tower in downtown Fort Worth, where it leases about 90,000 square feet. It also has a 90,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, where it builds pumps and other equipment, and a 94,000-square-foot facility in Aledo, which is used for equipment repair, maintenance and electronics.

FTS first made its filing in February and amended it last week. The company says it has about 1,900 employees, off from as many as 4,400 in January 2015. Michael J. Doss has been chief executive officer since October 2015.

Frac-Tech was founded in Cisco by Dan and Farris Wilks in 2002 and took off as the widespread use of fracking and horizontal drilling launched a domestic drilling boom in shale fields across the country.

In 2011, the Wilks brothers sold controlling interest to a group of investors led by Temasek Holdings, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, in a deal reportedly worth $3.5 billion. Chesapeake Energy also has a stake in the company. The two parties remain primary owners.

Steve Kaskovich: 817-390-7773, @stevekasko

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