Denver-based Vantage Energy LLC, a private oil and natural gas company created two months ago by the former president of EnCana Oil & Gas USA Inc. and the former CFO of Bill Barrett Corp., on Tuesday announced it had received $470 million in equity commitments from an investment group made up of Quantum Energy Partners, Carlyle/Riverstone and Lime Rock Partners.

Vantage was formed in October by Roger Biemans, the former EnCana executive, and Tom Tyree Jr., Bill Barrett’s former CFO. The company’s strategic focus is to acquire, develop and explore “unconventional natural gas resources, primarily tight gas sands, gas shales and coalbed methane, onshore in North America,” it said in a statement. Biemans will serve as chairman and CEO, while Tyree will serve as president and CFO.

The equity partners are becoming familiar names in the energy sector.

Quantum, with more than $3.2 billion in capital under management, primarily targets investments in the oil and gas sector and also invests in the midstream, oilfield service, coal, power and alternative energy sectors. Lime Rock manages $2.1 billion of private capital for investment in the energy industry through Lime Rock Partners, investors of growth capital in energy companies worldwide, and Lime Rock Resources, acquirers and operators of oil and gas properties in the United States.

Riverstone Holdings LLC and The Carlyle Group are the co-general partners of Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Funds. Riverstone has $7.0 billion under management, conducting buyout and growth capital investments in the midstream, upstream, power, oilfield service and renewable sectors of the energy industry. The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm with $46.9 billion under management.

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