24th Jul 2015 07:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Investing company LMS Capital PLC on Friday proposed a change to its investing policy to shift to a focus on energy companies as the group said the proceeds from its existing realisation strategy fell in the first half of the year.
LMS said it intends to change its investing policy to focus on making investments in energy companies, on the back of its belief that the fall in oil and gas prices over the past year has resulted in severe dislocations in the energy industry, creating a compelling investment opportunity.
Under the changes, LMS could continue its current realisation programme on its existing portfolio but would then use the proceeds to follow the new investment policy.
In the first-half of 2015, LMS said its proceeds from realisations fell to GBP26.6 million, down from GBP40.5 million a year earlier. Its net asset value per share at the end of June was down to 94 pence from 93 pence, with its total net asset value at GBP136.1 million from GBP135.1 million.
"The board has assembled a new investment team to execute the proposed new strategy of active investment in the energy sector. The new investment team combines complementary skill sets and broad industry networks with deep domain expertise and a successful track record in the energy and related sectors," said LMS Chairman Martin Knight.
LMS said the new investment team it has proposed includes Robert Rayne, Tom Daniel, Bernard Duco-Danner and Tony Hayward. Rayne and Duroc-Danner are both non-executive directors on LMS's current board. Rayne is currently the chairman of FTSE 250-listed property company Derwent London PLC and is a non-executive director on the board of Weatherford International PLC, the oil and natural gas services company. Duroc-Danner is the chairman, president and chief executive of Weatherford.
Hayward is the former chief executive of BP PLC and is currently the chairman of FTSE 100-listed miner Glencore PLC and Iraq-focused oil and gas company Genel Energy PLC.
Daniel is an experienced alternative investments industry veteran, with time spent in the private equity and special situations sector and the past six years working on investing in the natural resources sector.
LMS shares were down 4.4% on the news to 75.020 pence, one of the worst performers in the FTSE All-Share.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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