On the Links With: Billy Quinn, a Catalyst Behind Some of the U.S.’s Most Successful Energy Funds

There’s nothing flashy about Billy Quinn’s golf game. The energy investor reserves his flash for the octagon—he trains in MMA daily—and his sneaker game. With powder blue Jordan 1s on, his draw off the tee finds fairways, his disciplined approach shots, more often than not, set him up for success with the flat stick, and his green reading, at least at Dallas Country Club—one of his many memberships across the country—is top notch. 

DCC is where Quinn and I teed it up in early June, under rolling clouds. He starts par-par through two holes, followed by a bogey on the third. After a layup tee shot on the par five fourth hole, the thunder rumbles—followed by the horn. As the rain moves in, we head into the clubhouse for some Arnold Palmers and snacks. 

Quinn is at the helm of Pearl Energy Investments. The founder and driving force behind the PE firm—which has 13 employees—has steered the company to about $2 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Established in 2015, Pearl has seen a net return on investment of 250 percent across its three funds and three co-investments. According to data from Preqin, Pearl’s first fund, initiated in 2015, was the country’s most successful energy fund in the past 20 years based on net ROI.  

“We’re not doing quick flips,” he says as we listen to the rain patter off the roof of DCC’s clubhouse. “We’re building businesses over an extended period of time. And a little luck here and there goes a long way. We control the companies because we’re the big dollars behind them, but we don’t act like a controlling shareholder. We make decisions alongside the company’s management teams to produce the best outcomes.”

The firm, which raises funds every three years, specializes in controlling shareholder investments; its biggest hit has been with Permian Resources, formerly known as Colgate Energy. In late 2015, Pearl committed $75 million to the now-public oil and gas company. After a $150 million acquisition and additional capital infusions, Permian Resources reported $3.1 billion in oil and gas sales in 2023. The 2018 co-investment paid out investors eight times their money. “If not the best, it’s at least a top three most successful energy story of the last 10 years,” Quinn says as the rain starts to ease up. “And we’re the largest shareholder in the company today.”

What differentiates Pearl from other funds is that the firm’s principals invest between 5 to 10 percent of each fund as opposed to the 1 to 2 percent many other PE firms put up. “Put your money where your mouth is,” Quinn says as we head back out to the course. “We’re not just deploying other people’s money; we want our money in this. Because we’re cutting big personal checks, we just don’t think about funding, allocating dollars to a sector, or trying to get deals done. When somebody puts up 10 percent instead of 1 percent, the psychology behind that money is very different.”

Quinn and I get back on the course with tight muscles. Quinn bogeys the 529-yard par 5, fourth, and doubles the 387-yard par 4, fifth. We laugh it off as we try to get the train back on the tracks.

Before founding Pearl, Quinn was with Natural Gas Partners, where he was a crucial player in the company’s sixth fund—the most successful energy fund in the last 25 years based on net ROI data, per Preqin. It paid out investors more than 7.5 times their money; the main portfolio driver was Energy Transfer, which paid out the fund’s capital commitments five times over. 

“The total equity account was around $120 million and we put up $35 million,” Quinn says. “So, the size of the investment coupled with what it became, it may have been the best private equity energy investment ever.” Energy Transfer’s 2023 revenue was more than $78 billion.

A bogey on the sixth is followed up by Quinn rekindling his game—me, not so much. The tight fairways don’t treat my slice with kindness. Quinn’s tee ball on the seventh finds the middle of the fairway and his approach finds the middle of the green. He walks off with a stress-free par. Stress-free, however, is the opposite of how he describes his side hustle in sports while at NGP.

Quinn was part of the Texas Rangers ownership group in the early 2010s. And as he once again stripes his drive—this time down the middle of the fairway on the par 5 eighth which has water trouble ahead if you drive it too far—he tells me a harrowing story of what manifested in the ownership box during the 2011 World Series.

“I was in St. Louis for that game six,” he says. “We were up 7-4 after six-and-a-half innings and the ownership suite was told if we wanted to celebrate on the field with the players after the game that we had to make our way down to the tunnel now. And I was thinking, ‘The baseball gods? They frown upon this behavior.’ So, we all huddled around a tiny TV screen in the tunnel watching innings seven through 11. The carts of champagne and beer was even rolled out for the Rangers already. So, losing that game was painful and game seven was on my 41st birthday and that was painful, too. But the franchise got vindication this past year, so I’m a happy fan.”

Quinn lost out on another major professional sports opportunity. The Dallas Stars were up for sale in 2011, and he helped assemble a group willing to buy the NHL franchise out of bankruptcy. Ultimately, he lost to current owner Tom Gaglardi, who allegedly outbid the group by about $100 million. “[Former Stars CEO] Jim Lites always likes to poke fun at me, calling me cheap and telling me the franchise is worth more than $1 billion now,” Quinn says with a laugh. “I missed that one, but I think I’m doing fine.”

The energy investor has no plans to look into sports ownership, for now. He’s full steam ahead with Pearl.

Looking ahead, Quinn will initiate a fourth energy fund this fall. It will deploy just under $1 billion targeting eight to nine companies to invest in. “In an ideal world, we may have four companies that have 80 to 90 percent of the funding, because you set it up in a way knowing that you’re going to get it concentrated down to have three or four main positions,” he says.

He flies the green on eight and can’t get up-and-down for par. He throws a dart on nine though, and runs his birdie look just past the hole. He concludes our nine holes on a dreary afternoon at 6-over. We shake hands and I ask for one final nugget on what makes his firm successful: “Our returns are top of the pack,” he says. “But it starts with massive discipline, long-term building, hard work, and after that, a little luck hopefully finds us.”