Riverstone Holdings unit to launch IPO in London

Riverstone Holdings unit to launch IPO in LondonAmerican private equity fund, Riverstone Holdings has said that it is planning to launch an initial public offering for a new unit on October on the London Stock Exchange.

The new energy investment company, which is to be called Riverstone Energy Ltd will be priced at £1.5 billion or about $2.4 billion, according to Riverstone. The IPO will allow one of the largest private equity funds that focuses on energy investments, to have a publicly listed unit in the international markets.

Riverstone focuses mainly on the North American investments but has an expanding presence in the European market. Riverstones has made investments in British shale gas company, Cuadrilla Resources and Cobalt International Energy, which is a exploration company with discoveries in deep-water discoveries off Angola in Africa.

Riverstone Energy already has commitments of £550 million from Hunt Oil; an investment company of the hedge fund manager Louis Bacon and Alaska Permanent Fund' investment company. The initial public offering at the London Stock Exchange will be marketed to British institutional investors.

Riverstone was founded by two former Goldman Sachs bankers, Pierre F. Lapeyre Jr. and David M. Leuschen in 2000 and it has raised a total of $25 billion.