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Financier Nat Rothschild today said he had won the interest of a “world-class group of investors” as he set out plans to raise £600 million for his London-listed vehicle, Vallar, which will make acquisitions in the mining sector.
“Many investors missed out on the commodity boom and see this as a very interesting, risk-adjusted way for them to go long with the sector,” Rothschild told the Evening Standard.
“We're confident that we'll reach at least £600 million with a real blue-chip investor base.”
Vallar will look at buying assets from industry giants like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton as they dump non-core assets. It hopes to capitalise from their reluctance to sell to direct rivals.
The vehicle plans to spend between £2 billion and £5 billion and is focusing on base metals, coking coal, iron ore and thermal coal in the Americas, Russia, eastern Europe and Australia, the areas where members of its heavyweight board have their best contacts.
Vallar's chief executive, James Campbell, is a former chairman of Anglo–American's coal division, while Rothschild is supremely well-connected.
His friends and associates have included Peter Mandelson, George Osborne and oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who famously held court on the Russian's yacht, moored off Rothschild's Corfu villa, in 2008.
Other big City figures on the board include Lord Renwick, the former British ambassador to the US who now works as JPMorgan Europe's vice-chairman, who is taking on a non-executive directorship at Vallar, and its chairman, Sir Julian Horn-Smith, who was deputy chief executive of Vodafone.
“It's a FTSE 100-equivalent board,” said Rothschild. “They are all as good as it gets.”
With Campbell he has put £100 million into the venture. After the closure last year of Atticus Capital, the New York hedge fund Rothschild chaired, he said Vallar absorbed “100% of my focus”.
The placing will be priced at £10 a share. Vallar is targeting a listing by July 8. That will trigger a fees bonanza for bookrunners Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Cazenove, and managers Evolution Securities and Liberum Capital.
Reader views (3)
Shouldn't that be VALLA in the company controlled by the Chabad gods?
- Bill, Worthing Sussex, 26/06/2010 10:01
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His friends and associates have included Peter Mandelson, George Osborne and oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who famously held court on the Russian's yacht, moored off Rothschild's Corfu villa, in 2008.
"Have" is the operative word because I'm not sure George is still a friend. Nat should have realised George was a man of the future whereas Mandy is a man of the past.
- Stephen C, London, 25/06/2010 16:54
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And the Rothchilds by stealth carry on controlling the world....
- DC, Ealing, 25/06/2010 15:11
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