African oil explorer Impact Oil & Gas mulls biggest float since slump

An African oil exploration company has set in motion plans to float in what would be London’s biggest oil listing since the crisis bit in 2014.

Surrey-based Impact Oil & Gas, which has assets off the coasts of Gabon, Namibia, and South Africa, is understood to be speaking to potential advisers about a float, likely to be on AIM.

The plans coincide with Impact hiring Standard Chartered’s former heavyweight oil adviser Geraldine Murphy as a non-executive director last week. Sources said it was the first step towards an IPO, expected towards the end of the year. Murphy advised Cove Energy on its £1.2 billion sale to Thailand’s PTTEP.

In 2014, Impact sold a third of the company to London-based Helios Investment Advisers, an African-focused private-equity firm, and a black economic empowerment investment firm for $55 million.

The float is expected to value Impact at more than £100 million, making it the biggest oil listing since Nigeria’s Seplat went public in April 2014 with a £1 billion valuation.

Seplat’s move came two months before Brent crude peaked at $115 a barrel before going into freefall.

Impact declined to comment.