A small Calgary energy firm is buying out another company’s debt, effectively taking over as a banker to a struggling rival as part of a strategy to acquire natural gas assets on the cheap.

In a deal that shows the despair over low gas prices – and may point to a new acquisition strategy for contrarian gas buyers – Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. has agreed to pay $28-million for $54-million in debt held by Skope Energy Inc. The deal will make Pine Cliff the sole secured creditor to a company whose shares traded over $10 last year, but has since been delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and has seen virtually all of its market value evaporate.