Ascent Resources LLC, the Appalachian oil-and-gas explorer founded by late oilman Aubrey McClendon and two big energy-investment firms, is preparing for an initial public offering or a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Oklahoma City company is interviewing bankers to shepherd an offering and aiming for a stock-market valuation of more than $3.5 billion, some of the people said. If it happens, an offering likely wouldn’t take place until next year, and there is no guarantee the company will go forward with the plans, they said.
Ascent will also likely shop itself as a whole to competitors as it prepares for an IPO, some of the people said.
A multibillion-dollar valuation would represent a sharp turnaround from a year and a half ago when the company lost its famous founder in a fatal traffic wreck, was mired in debt and suffering slumping commodity prices.
Some debt issued by Ascent’s predecessor companies spent stretches of 2016 trading for pennies on the dollar, an indication that investors believed a default was imminent.
Following Mr. McClendon’s death in March, however, private-equity firms Energy & Minerals Group and First Reserve Corp. doubled down on their investments in the company, infusing it with roughly $1.5 billion of new cash that was used to pay down its debt.
Meanwhile, the company drilled one gusher after another on its 300,000 acres in eastern Ohio and West Virginia. During the first half of this year, for instance, Ascent…