Global Natural Resource Investments
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This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project |
Global Natural Resource Investments was previously known as Barclays Natural Resource Investments (BNRI), the private equity arm of Barclays Bank specialising in energy and commodity investments. Most controversially, it owned 97 per cent of fracking firm Third Energy UK,[1] which in 2016 was given permission to drill the first shale gas test well in the UK in five years.[2][3] The Barclays subsidiary sold its full holdings in Third Energy in April 2019 to York Energy(UK) an affiliate of American company Alpha Energy.
Contents
Structure
A management buyout in October 2015 saw BNRI's portfolio transferred to a new standalone company named Global Natural Resource Investments (GNRI), operating under the same staff. [4] The move meant that Barclays discontinued the right to run BNRI as its own business and would stop further investments, but GNRI would continue to manage its standing 17 investments on behalf of the bank, including ownership of shale gas explorer Third Energy UK. [5]
Barclays had originally sought to sell the entire portfolio of BNRI along with its management team but failed to secure an appropriate buyer. GNRI has an estimated $1.7 billion in standalone funds, including investments from Barclays and the Qatar Investment Authority, and has plans to raise a further $1-$1.5 billion in 2016-2017. [6]
Portfolio
Its portfolio has focused on upstream oil and gas, upstream mining, and power and renewables.
- Sources uniquely well-placed management teams in specific niches of the natural resources sector and aligns interests with them through 'skin-in-the-game' and long-term incentives. [7]
In 2014 BNRI had 'committed over $2 billion to more than 20 portfolio companies and management teams'. Investments included:
- Continental Intermodal - US, oil and gas sector since 2013
- Tellus Petroleum - Norway, since 2012
- Imalivest - Africa, since 2011
- PetroGranada - Colombia, since 2011
- Third Energy - UK, from 2010 - 2019
- Hydra Energy - Australia, since 2010
- UK Power Reserve - UK, power and other, since
- Mainstream Renewable Power - Global, Power & other since 2008
- Southern Peaks - Peru, metals and mining since 2010
Partial investments
Includes:
Realised investments
- Caiman Energy - 'a midstream energy company focused on providing the infrastructure necessary to move natural gas products from the wellhead to market, primarily in unconventional resource plays across the US'. Invested: July 2010 Exited: March 2012
- Greenergy - 'an originator, manufacturer, blender and supplier of petroleum transportation fuels and biofuels into the UK market. Led by Andrew Owens, management has established Greenergy as the UK's largest independent oil company and one of its top three fuel suppliers'. Invested: June 2006, Exited : May 2010
- INR Energy, led by Gary Rogliano was formed in 2007 to invest in all aspects of mining including coal and industrial minerals mining operations. Invested: April 2007 Exited : July 2010 [8]
Attendee at UK energy minister's May 2018 shale gas roundtable
Energy minister Claire Perry hosted a roundtable with the fracking industry in May 2018 just hours before she gave evidence to a committee of MPs on the Conservative government's proposed changes to relax the rules on shale gas development in the UK.
GNRI was listed on a 'reconstructed' attendee list for the event, released under FOI laws to North Yorkshire resident Jonathan Bales following an internal review of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's initial almost completely redacted FOI response. [9]
Oil and gas companies at the roundtable included:
- Aurora Energy, BP, Cuadrilla, IGas, Ineos, Third Energy and lobby group UK Onshore Oil and Gas.
- Service companies: Ground Gas Solutions, Marriott Drilling, Onshore Energy Service Group, Zetland Group.
- Investors and fund managers: Riverstone (a major partner in Cuadrilla), Kerogen (investor in IGas), Global Natural Resource Investments (formerly part of Barclays which invested in Third Energy), KKR, JP Morgan.
Other industries and organisations: Chemical Industries Association chemical company SABIC, Coalfield Regeneration Trust, Engineering Employers’ Federation, GMB. [10]
People
- Mark Brown - Managing Director based in London, Doha
- David Ellis - Managing Director, Based in Doha
- Tom Cairns - Director, based in London. Deals with BNRI include NGP, Chrysaor, Third Energy, Tellus Petroleum, Tulip Oil, and Hydra Energy.
- Freddie Lee - Director and Head of Investor Relations, Based in London, Doha
- Martin Miles - COO. Based in: London
- Nicolas Boukhalil - Director, based in Doha
- Lakhbir Sandhu - Director, based in London. Deals covered with BNRI include UK Power Reserve, Tulip Oil, Mainstream Renewable Power, PetroGranada, and Nio Petroleum. Previously worked for Goldman Sachs.
- Richard Jennings - Director based in: London [11]
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ Emily Gosden, Barclays invests in shale gas revolution, The Telegraph, 30 November 2013, accessed 20 October 2016
- ↑ Tony Bosworth, Why Barclays' fracking excuses don't add up, Friends of the Earth, 13 October 2015, accessed 20 October 2016.
- ↑ Landmark North Yorkshire fracking operation approved, BBC News, 23 May 2016, accessed 14 September 2016.
- ↑ Joseph Cotterill, Barclays spins out resources buyout arm, Financial Times, 28 October 2015, accessed 20 October 2016.
- ↑ MBO at Barclays Natural Resource Investments creates new PE firm GNRI, Private Equity Wire, 28 October 2015, accessed 20 October 2016.
- ↑ Martin Arnold and Madison Marriage, Management to buy Barclays private equity arm after stalled sale, Financial Times, June 25 2015, accessed 20 October 2016.
- ↑ Barclays Natural Resource Investments, website, accessed 12 May 2014
- ↑ Realised Investments, Barclays Natural Resources Investment, undated, acc 12 May 2014
- ↑ What do they Know?, Shale Gas Round Table: internal review of Freedom of Information request to Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 24 July 2018
- ↑ Ruth Hayhurst, What government told the shale gas industry about success, regulation, jobs and support, Drill or Drop, 22 October 2018, accessed same day.
- ↑ Managing Directors and Directors, website, acc 12 May 2014
