Hayward ventures out with £1bn fundraising

By This Is Money
Updated: 10:24 EDT, 9 June 2011

Ex-BP boss Tony Hayward and billionaire financier Nathaniel Rothschild are spearheading a £1bn fundraising for their energy investment vehicle Vallares.

Tony Hayward: High-profile return with £1bn fundraising

The venture, to be listed on the London Stock Exchange later this month, is seeking out oil and gas assets worth £3bn-£8bn in emerging markets.

The move is a swift return to the limelight for Mr Hayward, who stepped down from BP less than a year ago.

He was lambasted following the Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with critics including BP shareholders, Louisiana fishermen and US president Barack Obama.

Mr Hayward famously told reporters 'I want my life back' at the height of the fatal disaster last year, and was also criticised for going sailing off the Isle of Wight while the crisis unfolded.

He resigned from his post as chief executive shortly after a public grilling by a US congressional committee.

Since then, he has remained a board member on BP's Russian joint venture TNK-BP, and more recently was named senior independent director of commodities trader Glencore, which listed in London last month.

Alongside Mr Hayward and Mr Rothschild, the other Vallares founders are former Goldman Sachs partner Julian Metherall and investment manager Tom Daniel.

The founders have committed £100m of capital, including £80m to subscribe for ordinary shares in the placing.

Vallares, which has set a placing price of 1,000p per share, said it would use the expertise of its founders to identify takeover targets in Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

It will follow the model of Mr Rothschild's mining investment vehicle Vallar, which raised £707m last year in a stock market flotation and acquired a coal business in Indonesia.

Mr Hayward told Reuters that rather than buy assets for cash, Vallares would offer resource holders shares in itself, cash for field development and the ability to raise more cash via further Vallares share issues.

'If you are an owner of quality resources in an emerging market and you're limited by capital and capability, but you don't wish to sell for cash ... then this is a very good vehicle,' he said in the interview. 'You can merge with us, (and) you retain your ownership in the asset.'

Mr Hayward added that the structure gave potential partners the advantages of a London listing, something he said would take them at least three years to secure themselves.

Vallares said: 'The directors believe that increasing global industrialisation and urbanisation, particularly in Asia and the emerging markets, is likely to lead to increased global demand for commodities.'

It added that Mr Rothschild and Mr Hayward have a 'global network of relationships with key decision-makers'.

Vallares shares will be allocated on or around June 20.