Falklands oil explorer aims to list on market
IAIN DEY
CITY EDITOR
ROCKHOPPER Exploration, an oil firm planning to drill in the Falkland Islands, is seeking admission to the Alternative Investment Market next month after securing five heavyweight board appointments.
The company, which is led by former Enterprise Oil chief executive Pierre Jungels, is looking to raise 30m in a flotation that will value the business at 70m.
To help sell the issue, Jungels has recruited a handful of oil industry veterans and non-executive directors, including Chris Walton, the former finance director at easyJet.
The move comes in spite of the continued problems at Regal Petroleum which have sent shockwaves through the oil and gas exploration sector.
Jungels, who joined Rockhopper as executive chairman in January, said: "The North Falkland basin is hotting up. The interest is growing, wells are being drilled. It's at about the same stage the North Sea was at pre-1970."
He added: "We will be floating the company in July. We want to raise 30m and we are starting with a valuation of 40m before the new money.
"We've already done some pre-marketing to get the views of some large investors. They think that Regal and everything else is behind us now and companies with good management and good assets will get away without a problem.
"We've brought in strong financial expertise and strong industry expertise. We are fully compliant with all the regulations so that everyone can see we are 100% above board."
Rockhopper has been awarded a number of licences in the North Falkland basin, some of which were previously drilled by Shell in the 1990s. It has also farmed into a further prospect with Desire Petroleum.
Jungels said an independent consultancy commissioned to do research into Rockhopper's prospects estimated that they could hold 500 million barrels of risked reserves.
Analysts at Arden Partners, which is joint broker to the float along with Ambrian Partners, have said the company could be worth 80m. Desire, which has a similar portfolio of assets, is currently worth around 85m.
Aside from Jungels, the company is to be run by Rockhopper's co-founder Sam Moody, a former fund manager with AXA Equity & Law Investment Management and St Paul's Investment Management.
The recent appointments to the Rockhopper board are Keith Williams, the former exploration director at Kerr McGee's UK arm, who becomes exploration director; Peter Dixon-Clarke, formerly with Lloyds insurer Amlin, who becomes finance director; plus Dave Bodecott, Chris Walton and John Crowle.
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