Carlyle, CVC form investment vehicle: UpdateOREANDA-NEWS. June 15, 2015. US-based asset manager The Carlyle Group and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners have formed an oil and gas investment vehicle to make large acquisitions in the North Sea, north Africa and southeast Asia.

London-based Neptune Oil and Gas will be backed by up to \\$5bn from funds managed by the two companies, including Carlyle International Energy Partners that already owns northwest Europe-focused refining, storage and distribution company Varo Energy, oil and gas exploration company Discover Exploration and liquids, dry bulk storage and handling business HES International. Neptune will focus on investing in large oil and gas portfolios that come available as companies seek to bolster their balance sheets amid a lower oil price environment.

Neptune will be run by Sam Laidlaw, who was most recently the chief executive of UK energy firm Centrica and has held senior positions at Chevron, UK independent Enterprise Oil and US company Amerada Hess.

Private equity firms are showing a renewed appetite for upstream investment as they seek to capitalise on lower asset values generated by depressed oil prices. They have played a prominent role in the upstream mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market this year, and the biggest deal involved a consortium of funds closing a deal to buy US independent Apache's Australian subsidiary for \\$1.9bn this month.

The US continues to attract the bulk of investment. Private equity giant Warburg Pincus — which closed a \\$4bn energy-focused fund in October last year — has agreed to invest up to \\$500mn in a start-up upstream firm called Independent Resources Management. The company will look for onshore acquisition opportunities in the US, with an initial focus on the Anadarko basin. US upstream firm Fleur de Lis Energy, backed by private equity firm KKR, recently closed the acquisition of producing fields in the Powder River and Green River basins of Wyoming from US independent Anadarko Petroleum for an undisclosed sum.

And US private equity investor Quantum Energy Partners has agreed to form a "strategic acquisition alliance" with US independent Linn Energy. Quantum, which was the founding investor in Linn in 2003, will commit an initial \\$1bn to the venture to fund acquisitions in the US. Linn will manage the acquired assets with a direct working interest of 15-50pc. It is the second private equity partnership that Linn has set up this year. GSO Capital Partners, a unit of private equity firm Blackstone, has agreed to commit up to \\$500mn to fund drilling programmes on locations provided by Linn, in exchange for an 85pc stake in the projects. The infusion of private equity capital comes at a time when Linn is having to cut capital expenditure and dividends because of declining cash flow.

Private equity capital has traditionally been under-represented in the upstream sector outside North America. But investors are increasingly looking further afield for opportunities. US investment company Blackstone and UK-based Blue Water Energy announced plans last year to invest up to \\$500m in a North Sea upstream independent called Siccar Point Energy, which will focus on acquiring stakes in marginal or mature fields in the UK that are struggling to compete for investment within their owners' portfolios.

But Siccar Point Energy has yet to strike any deals.

Deal-making in the North Sea has been sluggish this year, with the sharp decline in oil prices widening the gap between buyers' and sellers' valuations. But a recent improvement in oil prices may close the gap and pave the way for an increase in M&A activity in the second half of the year. The UK government's decision to cut the supplementary rate on tax on profits may also spur buyers into action.

The UK North Sea is ripe with potential acquisition opportunities. The majors and other large companies continue to review their portfolios in the region as part of a drive to cut costs and focus investment on higher-margin basins, while smaller companies are becoming increasingly vulnerable to takeover approaches as they struggle to service debt repayments and raise funds for licence requirements.

German utilty Eon put its North Sea portfolio under review in December last year. Total is looking to sell part of its 80pc stake in the Laggan-Tormore gas and condensate project in the UK's west of Shetlands region. And Russian investment firm L1 Energy is being forced to sell the UK North Sea fields that it acquired from German utility RWE in March. L1 Energy acquired stakes in 13 North Sea fields — 12 of them producing — when it bought RWE's upstream subsidiary RWE Dea. But the UK government has ordered L1 Energy to sell the UK assets because it is concerned the fields might have to stop producing if the company is placed under sanctions as part of the west's standoff with Russia over Ukraine.