Petrofac sets up $1.25 billion fund with First Reserve, M'sian assets among acquisition

(June 26): Petrofac Ltd. and First Reserve Corp. agreed to set up a $1.25 billion fund to buy energy infrastructure assets.

First Reserve and its investors will fund about 80 percent of PetroFirst Infrastructure Partners, with Petrofac adding as much as $250 million in assets and cash, the U.K.’s largest oil and gas engineer said in a statement. First Reserve, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based company that was one of the earliest private-equity firms to focus on energy, agreed to buy an interest in Petrofac’s floating production facilities in Malaysia and Thailand for about $450 million.

The new venture will have about $1.1 billion available for asset purchases after the floating facilities transaction, Petrofac Chief Financial Officer Tim Weller said by phone. “We will be looking at opportunities on the global basis. If successful, there is a potential to increase its financial scale.”

Petrofac rose 2 percent to 1,223 pence in London. It fell the most in more than months May 9 after cutting its earnings forecast and spending at its Integrated Energy Services division, which takes direct stakes in fields.

The company “refocused” the segment’s development plans, Chief Executive Officer Ayman Asfari said in the statement.