Matra Petroleum to be a £500 million company in 6 months

For anyone who has not been following the fortunes of MTA, they have 100% ownership of the Sokolovskoe oil field near Orenburg in Russia, north of the Caspian Sea.
They have drilled 2 wells following discovery of the field (A12, A13) but have suffered a series of technical problems which have limited their ability to capitalise on the asset discovery. Progress has been slow.

In the last few weeks interest has been rather intense following news that the recently departed TNK-BP deputy CEO (& CEO heir-apparent) Maxim Barskiy was buying a 30% stake in the company and joining the board as an NED. He has a track record for growing his companies very agressively.

The EGM ratifying his appointment was followed a week later by the resignation of the explo. director and this has been seen as evidence of MB's intention to be involved in the company's activities.
He is incentivised to enable an acquisition of over $25m within 12 months and there is a sense that targets are in view. There is discussion that more Russian management will be involved and development of the existing Soko asset will be accelerated. His cash will certainly help!

..But I didn't expect things to happen this fast!

MD has now resigned. Barskiy is to be CEO. More management changes are expected.

Howard12, impressive timing in starting the thread!

That’s a ridiculous and dangerous ramp.
Please justify the ½ billion valuation in 6 months.
What is the BOPD target by year end?
What is the Revenue target by year end?
What is the Profit target by year end?

I presume you refer to the thread title & I think it is rather optimistic, however these changes suggest a very sharp change in company strategy & presumably finances.

Barskiy's track record with WSR was $60m to $3b in 4 years, apparently starting with getting rid of incumbent BoD.
Shifting these 2 exec members of the board within 2 weeks of his joining must have been agreed before he came on board.
It is a very different company now.

Oil Barrel published a presentation video (50th conference) by the MD showing plans from February for rapid increase in production over next 3 years from 400bopd (2012) to 7000bopd (2015).
We haven't a clue about a new strategy, but I too doubt £500m in 6 months!

Compare it to Exillon. That will give you some interesting valuation points.

MrNachos - News on appointments will arrive shortly....You will note that they will have worked with MB in the past also. The acquisition has been talked about in the city and will be public in soon.
Regards

In reply to howard12, post #6

What is the protocol for director appointments? Should the list be made public before the AGM, where they will be voted in/out?
The idea of announcing the proposed board members at the AGM and expecting the shareholders to judge competence during the meeting is unrealistic. I assume this is not how it is done - PIs and AGM attendees are usually not the big shareholders.
The AGM is 2 weeks away.

Is the acquisition being discussed approx $500m as rumoured in the press?
Is Fridman/AAR involved?
There appears to be history between Barskiy & Fridman.

If the $500m is correct, you may have good information & I'd take back my doubts above!

MrNachos - I think they will announce board members before the AGM but its unlikely they will have started by then. The aquisition of vetra is not for $500m its actually $200 (again the press have made a figure up) I caught wind of this deal with Vetra well before any press release and think this deal will be pushed through in the coming month. I do know that Fridman has has been in talks with Barskiy and i expect them to joint forces.

If this happens matra will hit 5p on any news on Fridman joining mta

rhwillcol
30 May'12 - 17:51 - 3150 of 3171


Maxim staying at Matra, but working as outside consultant to TNK-BP, by the looks of it:



http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5bb2e0de-aa6d-11e1-9331-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1wN9jpYdZ


May 30, 2012 5:38 pm

Barsky rejects TNK-BP for future with Matra

By Michael Kavanagh

Maxim Barsky, former deputy chief executive and heir apparent of TNK-BP, has insisted his future lies with developing his new exploration vehicle rather than returning to the troubled Russian joint venture.

Speaking ahead of Monday’s decision by the Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman to resign as chief executive of TNK-BP, Mr Barsky confirmed that he was seeking the potential support of Russian investors in the warring joint venture for Matra, his Aim-quoted vehicle.

More
He argued that contacts with Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR), the consortium of Russian shareholders that owns 50 per cent of TNK-BP, and other Russian investors might provide a source of future funding for Matra to achieve its ambition to establish itself as a leading independent explorer in Russia and beyond.

“We will look to use my relationships with Russian companies and investors,” said Mr Barsky. “If we can’t raise money through capital markets, we will have them as alternative investors.”

Suggestions that Mr Barsky might re-establish himself as the preferred candidate to lead TNK-BP have been damped in recent days by Mr Barsky and potential backers in his new venture.

“Mr Barsky will be working as an outside consultant helping the company [TNK-BP] develop some outside opportunities but not in an executive position inside the company,” according to a person familiar with AAR.

Mr Barsky took over as chief executive of Matra last week after agreeing in April to inject £4.6m of equity into the company from his personal fortune. He amassed this through building his last listed venture, Western Siberian Resources, from less than $100m to $1.5bn.

The Russian oil executive stepped down from BP’s joint venture last October following a series of protracted disputes between BP and AAR – a consortium made up of Mr Fridman’s Alfa Group, Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries and Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova.

Explaining his strategy of focusing opportunities to acquire assets in Latin America as well as areas in Russia, Mr Barsky stressed his experience in negotiating deals outside his Russian hinterland during his spell at TNK-BP.

During his time at the venture, under the tutelage of both Bob Dudley and his predecessor as BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward, Mr Barsky was responsible for negotiating and assessing asset deals in Vietnam, Venezuela and Brazil at a time when the partners in the TNK-BP venture “weren’t talking to each other”.

In spite of the impasse between the two sides, Mr Barsky last year helped oversee the agreement with HRT of Brazil for a 45 per cent stake in an onshore field in the Amazon basin for $1bn.

Though now in command of a vehicle with a market capitalisation of £49m rather than Russia’s third-largest oil producer, Mr Barsky insisted he was content.

“The challenge [at TNK] was to prove you can operate in a large organisation – though smaller companies can be harder to manage,” said Mr Barsky. “At that time, the scale was something I wanted. But I am more an entrepreneur and less of a bureaucrat – I am more an entrepreneur than just a manager.

“When I was dealing with Marcio Mello [chief executive of Brazil’s HRT], I saw a happy man who reminded me of myself when I could call the shots and move quickly. Looking at him sowed the seed of Matra.”

In reply to howard12, post #8

That's useful information from another route. Are you expecting to be at the AGM?
Having two big beasts from a $50bn co. moving in to head up $50m MTA would imply a substantial growth strategy is to be expected.

In reply to djpreston, post #5

It certainly wont get there on the Sokolovskaya production!

MrNachos - Soko is now on the back burner but we will see A14 spud in the next 12 months. I will be at the AGM. I will put many questions to MB

Has anyone identified Vladimir Lenski who is now shown on Matra documents as MD?
Google comes up with 2 identities, one a software project manager (& entrepreneur} from Minsk seems the most likely, but without any experience in oil it seems.

I agree that interest is likely to be in acquisitions rather than Soko from now on.

I hope to be at the AGM too.

Hi Guys, any feedback on the AGM ? is it one of you guys that I spoke to after the soco agm ?

very interested to hear your thoughts after the agm,

K

In reply to kenobi, post #14

Hi K,

You spoke to Mr Nachos, and thanks for leading me to the tube.

Howard where abouts were you sitting at the AGM?

thanks fuiseog,
very nice to meet you and Mr Nachos at the agm,

hope you see you next year,

K

In reply to kenobi, post #14

Hi K,

There are some other writeups of the AGM Q&A session elsewhere.
For me, the important pieces were:

MB has brought the entire in-crowd from WSR & obviously sees them as a strong team sharing his vision.
He intends to do what he did for WSR, only better.
One additional board appointment is awaited, in charge of M&A, and will be from TNK-BP. Could this be Mikael Fridman?

The focus is now sharply on acquisition, in CIS and South America. The current asset, the Soko field, will be explored further, proved up and then sold.
There was a glimpse of a slide focussing on Verta, so talk of this as an acquisition is not out of place.
It is expected that the capital markets will not be active until September. Whether this would affect all acquisition progress is by no means clear.

Sounds like the title may be possible. MB is certainly no cuddly toy!