United Energy, a firm controlled by mainland tycoon Zhang Hongwei and supported by a US$5 billion credit facility from China Development Bank, is seeking to buy oil-and-gas assets in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the United States.
The company, 68-per-cent-owned by Zhang, is eyeing opportunities to buy mature producing projects in both developed and emerging markets, chief financial officer Thomas Pang Pui-yin said.
'Valuation of assets in developed markets have become more attractive amid the sovereign debt crisis, while emerging nations are still hotbeds for energy assets acquisitions although political risks are higher and valuations have not changed much.'
Last September, United completed a US$750 million acquisition of oil-and-gas assets in Pakistan from BP, as part of the latter's assets sale to finance a US$20 billion fund to compensate victims of a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
State-owned China Development Bank (CDB) had granted United a five-year, US$5 billion credit facility to fund its overseas oil-and-gas business, Pang said. In the Pakistan acquisition, the CDB has lent United HK$5 billion for 10 years at an interest rate of about 5 per cent.
United said in September it was in early talks on two possible acquisition deals, whose size was unlikely to be less than the Pakistan purchase.
