O’Sullivan to net €12m on Burren flotation

BUSINESSMAN Finian O’Sullivan will net €12 million when his exploration company Burren Energy floats on the stock exchange later this week.

Mr O’Sullivan is chief executive and founder of the British-based oil and gas exploration company and will become an instant millionaire when the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The University College Galway-educated Mr O’Sullivan, 48, founded Burren in 1994 after 17 years in the industry with the likes of Chevron and Olympic Oil.

Burren’s main operations are based in Turkmenistan, on the Caspian Sea, and the Republic of Congo in Africa.

After the flotation, the company’s management will see their stake fall to 11%, with just over half of this owned by Mr O’Sullivan.

The remaining shares will be offered to new investors and 50% with existing institutional investors. Mr O’Sullivan said in a statement yesterday: “the float gives Burren the financial resources to accelerate the development of our portfolio and look for opportunities elsewhere.

“It will also enhance our profile, which will be an important factor in future negotiations overseas.”

The company is expected to be valued at nearly €250 million when its share begin trading on Thursday.

The offer price is expected to be set at 184 cent per share and will net Mr O’Sullivan €12m for part of his stake. The listing will net the company €56m in new funds, which it will use to strengthen its capital base, fund ongoing development programmes and take advantage of future acquisition and development opportunities.

In the six months to June 2003, Burren made an operating profit of €13.2m on turnover of €18.6m, compared with €13m and €53m for the whole of 2002.

Burren has oil output of 10,000 barrels per day and expects this to grow to more than 30,000 barrels in 2007.