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Global Investing Today Article Online - Reach Energy Lures Norway's Wealth Fund in IPO: Southeast Asia
July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's Reach Energy Bhd. has attracted investors including Norway's $890 billion sovereign wealth fund in an initial public offering to fund its acquisitions of oil and gas fields.
Norges Bank Investment Management, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, and Malaysia's pilgrim fund will invest in the 750 million-ringgit ($237 million) IPO, Managing Director Shahul Hamid Mohd Ismail said in a July 21 interview. Norway's wealth fund will own a substantial stake in the special-purpose acquisition company, he told reporters today.
Rising energy demand is spurring companies such as Reach Energy to buy and develop smaller oil and gas fields ignored by their larger international counterparts. Malaysia's Sona Petroleum Bhd., also a special-purpose acquisition company, finalized an agreement this week to buy a stake in two Thai oil and gas blocks of U.K.-based Salamander Energy Ltd.
"The No. 1 and single immediate plan is to get our qualified acquisition," said Shahul, 64, a former Royal Dutch Shell Plc executive who had managed exploration and production assets in Brunei and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. "With the confidence of these institutions, this paves the way for us to grow the business."
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