Aubrey McClendon Forms Second Company

Six months after leaving Chesapeake Energy, founder and longtime CEO Aubrey McClendon has founded a second oil and gas company.

CNBC reports that McClendon is on the verge of closing a $1.8 billion equity and debt financing deal for American Energy Utica, which will focus its efforts on reserves in Ohio's Utica Shale.

The company will purchase 80,000 acres and is expected to have 12 rigs operating within two to three years, CNBC reported, quoting investors in the company.

The largest investor in the new company is Energy and Minerals Group, a $6.7 billion private equity firm based in Houston.

McClendon previously founded American Energy Partners, whose office is less than a mile from the Chesapeake campus.