Oil investment trio hunts for bargains after crude crash

Bloomberg

A trio of Houston-based private-equity funds is sifting through the oil industry with a view to potentially reaching $4 billion of investments after the market crash created some bargains.
Argus Energy Managers, made up of three firms that invest in smaller explorers and service providers, expects to end the year with combined funds north of $2 billion and possibly double that within the next five years, Charles Cherington, co-founder of Argus, said on Monday.
The funds, which operate independently but share investment leads under the newly formed Argus umbrella, sees now as the time to invest, with an eye toward selling in five-year window ending in 2025, he said. “If you have cash, it’s a great time to be buying, particularly on the small end of the market,” Cherington said. “It’s not going to happen in 2017, it’s not going to happen next year, but if you look at the map, by 2020, it’s inevitable we’re going to see a pretty major boom in the industry.”
Wall Street is throwing the most money at US energy companies since at least 2000 amid growing confidence that the industry is emerging from the worst downturn in a generation. Energy firms raised $6.64 billion in 13 equity offerings in January, drawn in by a combination of oil prices consistently near $50 a barrel and a rush to drill that’s roughly doubled the rigs in use in the US and Canada since May.
West Texas Intermediate, US benchmark, rose 9 cents to $48.31 at 9:58 am in New York. The three entities forming Argus are Intervale Capital, focused on oilfield servicer providers; Bayou City Energy, investing in exploration and production companies; and Cibolo Energy Partners, making non-ope- rated debt investments in explorers.