Petroceltic investor feud flares once again

Activist investor Worldview Capital Management has ignited a fresh war with Irish exploration firm Petroceltic, claiming the latter’s debt-raising plans put control of its chief asset at stake.

The Swiss-domiciled investment fund manager— which has a near 30% stake in Petroceltic — yesterday opined that the Irish firm has “run out of money” and is effectively gambling its key Algerian operations against an expensive round of debt funding.

Earlier this week, Petroceltic announced its intention to raise $175m (€157m), via a three-year maturity bond sale, to mainly cover capital expenditure needs for the Ain Tsila gas field in Algeria, as well as to pay off existing debt and for general corporate purposes. Worldview wants to stop the action and put it to a shareholder vote.