Calgary-based EnCana Corp. agreed to pay $457 million in cash to closely held Indigo Minerals LLC for 89,000 acres of Louisiana and East Texas leaseholds in the emerging Haynesville Shale and Deep Bossier play. The transaction includes 242 wells; production volumes were not disclosed. The properties are located in several parishes in northwestern Louisiana, as well as in Texas, Houston-based Indigo Minerals said. Indigo is backed by New York-based buyout firm Yorktown Partners and family-owned Roy O. Martin Lumber and Martin Timber companies of Alexandria, LA. Indigo also receives funding form Bank of America Corp. Indigo said it would still own 22,000 leasehold acres in Louisiana and East Texas once the transaction closes, which is expected by the end of July.

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