Wood Mackenzie seeks £2bn listing

Wood Mackenzie is preparing for a stock market listing in which the UK energy research consultancy would seek a valuation of as much as £2bn, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Edinburgh-based company, which is owned by the San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, in recent weeks appointed Lazard to advise on an initial public offering, these people added.

The move is likely to force bidders looking at a takeover of the company to raise their bids. The Financial Times reported on Saturday that US data group Verisk Analytics recently offered £1.6bn for "Wood Mac" as the company is known in the energy industry.

McGraw Hill Financial has also submitted a takeover offer at around £1.5bn in an effort to add Wood Mackenzie's data and analytics services to a portfolio which includes energy price reporter Platt's and Standard & Poor's, the rating agency.

But Wood Mackenzie intends to press forward with plans for an IPO unless suitors make bids above £1.8bn, the low-end of what the company hopes to be valued at in a listing, people close to the situation said. Hellman & Friedman and Lazard declined to comment.

With the rise of so-called "dual track" processes and a surge in public market valuations, buyout firms have been increasingly able to play off private bidders against the prospect of an IPO when looking to exit an investment.

An exit from its ownership of Wood Mackenzie would come three years after Hellman & Friedman bought a 63 per cent stake in a deal valuing the company at £1.1bn.

Wood Mackenzie's management and employees retained a 24 per cent stake and Charterhouse, a European private equity company, held a 13 per cent shareholding after the deal.

The company produces research and analytics on the energy and commodities sectors for clients in the oil and gas, financial services groups, metals and mining space.

Consultants have seen higher demand for their services amid a lower oil price environment that has forced energy companies to trim operating costs and be more strategic with investments.

From its origins as an Edinburgh stockbroker in 1844, Wood Mackenzie began researching energy markets with the North Sea oil boom in 1973. It now covers trends from US oil rig counts to Chinese power markets - data points which a market recovering from the collapse in oil markets last year is watching closely.

The company was bought out by management and employees from Deutsche Bank in 2001 and in 2004, UK private equity group Candover acquired a stake, which it increased to 67 per cent three years later. In 2009 it sold out to Charterhouse for £550m.

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