Privately-held natural gas exploration and production company Rice Energy is planning for an initial public offering that could value the company at as much as $2.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Rice Energy, which was founded by a former BlackRock Inc portfolio manager and his children, has already filed a confidential registration statement with US regulators, three of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is not public.
It has tapped Barclays PLC to lead the IPO, two of the people said. The family-owned company, which has focused its efforts on Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale and Ohio's Utica shale, could have an enterprise value between $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion, according to one of the people.