After an investment gone bad in now-defunct Diamond Bank, global investment firm, Carlyle Group seems to have moved on as it announced the establishment of a new platform, Boru Energy, which would target acquisitions of up to $1 billion, focuses on oil and gas opportunities across Sub-saharan Africa.
According to Carlyle, Boru Energy’s investment goal will be to assemble a portfolio of primarily non-operated interests in oil & gas production assets. The potential portfolio will be spread across several Sub-saharan Africa countries and will consist of assets with significant commercialisation potential and where the operator is a high quality national, international or independent oil and gas company
It also agreed to partner with Aidan Heavey and Tom Hickey who are well-regarded as industry veterans with extensive investment experience investing in African oil & gas assets.
Aidan Heavey is the founder and former Chairman and CEO of Tullow Oil PLC, an Africa-focused exploration and production company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Under Heavey’s leadership, Tullow grew into an FTSE 100 company with production of over 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Tom Hickey was CFO of Tullow Oil between 2000 and 2008, where he worked closely with Heavey and has since held various management positions in the oil & gas industry.
Funding for potential investments will come from Carlyle International Energy Partners, L.P. (CIEP), a fund that focuses on oil and gas exploration & production, midstream, and refining and marketing in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
CIEP first invested in Africa in 2017, when Carlyle-backed Assala Energy acquired Shell’s onshore assets in Gabon.
Boru Energy will benefit from the strong experience and industry expertise Carlyle has in this region and globally.
This investment is led by managing director and head of CIEP Marcel van Poecke and managing Director Bob Maguire
