Irish oil firm plots Aim float

IRISH oil company Providence Resources, backed by entrepreneur Sir Anthony O'Reilly, plans to join the Alternative Investment Market next month.

Providence, listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and valued at about £47m, could raise additional funding to support a major drilling programme when it floats on Aim.

The company, which was formed in 1997, is interviewing bankers to handle the float. O'Reilly recently spent £680,000 to lift his family's stake in Providence to 45 per cent.

While Providence's initial focus was on the Irish Sea, where it has a number of assets, it now has a 20% interest in the Singleton field near Goodwood racecourse, West Sussex, plus a share in the big Aje field in Nigeria, which is expected to yield gas and oil.

Investment bank Merrill Lynch has calculated that Providence's stake in the Aje field could be worth up to £100m.

Providence will use the float to help fund the drilling of wells in Nigeria as well as onshore and offshore operations in Britain.