Last week, two members of Buchanan’s energy team, Ben Romney (Partner and Head of Energy) and George Pope (Analyst), attended a site visit hosted by Beacon Energy at its flagship Erfelden development onshore, Southwest Germany. The purpose of the visit was to provide analysts and advisors in the sector with a detailed overview and tour of the SCH-2 drilling site, located adjacent to the Schwarzbach Production Facility. 

The timing of the site visit coincided with the ongoing drilling activities for the second development well, SCH-2, having spudded just a few days prior on the 19^TH of June, the fully crewed rig, contracted from RED Drilling Services, is expected to take approximately 25 days and drill to a depth of 2,255m. By the end of July, Beacon Energy hopes to assess the success of the well in a 12-day testing period, once completed the SCH-2 well will be tied into the exciting Schwarzbach Facility before coming online as a producer.

Buchanan’s Energy team has been actively involved in advising Beacon Energy on their market-facing communications during their rebranding and Reverse Takeover (RTO) process, which enabled their relisting on the AIM market. Buchanan was delighted to take a group of analysts out to visit the site of Beacon Energy. During the visit, the attendees saw the critical SCH-2 well drilling, which has the potential to be transformative for Beacon in the success case. The Company’s investment story is highly topical given its role in Germany’s Energy Security. The well has generated significant local media traction following the Company’s efforts to demonstrate strong community and wider stakeholder engagement.

Read more here.

Ben and George thank their hosts Beacon Energy and their subsidiary, Rhein Petroleum GmbH, for their hospitality and for granting them the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the onsite operations.

Seplat Energy (Seplat) is a Nigeria based independent energy company with production, development, and exploration assets in Nigeria. This year, Buchanan worked with Seplat to deliver their 2022 Sustainability Report. We worked closely with Seplat’s sustainability team and key stakeholders throughout the business in Nigeria to articulate and present Seplat’s ESG performance and sustainability credentials.

We helped the company report against new disclosures including a detailed Climate Risk and Resilience report supported by our friends at specialist climate advisory firm, JS Global, to strengthen Seplat’s disclosure under the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The report also included Seplat’s inaugural communication of its progress on the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). The report was developed with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Click here to read the sustainability report.

Appraising

Amicorp FS (UK) plc listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, 8 June 2023 successfully raising gross proceeds of US$6.47 million. On listing, the Company had a market capitalisation of US$119 million.

The Company, an international specialist fund services group, has a clear strategy for growth with significant expansion opportunities amongst its current client base and an opportunity to tap into larger funds via its existing network. Its London listing will support these growth ambitions.

Buchanan was engaged to implement a communications strategy for the IPO, supporting the brokers, lawyers and Company in its RNS drafting and comms collateral. Buchanan assisted with the Company’s external communication to its key stakeholders via the media and through the creation of an investor website.

Elevating

Buchanan provided media training to key spokespeople and put together a compelling equity story which helped secure supportive attention for the investment case and KPIs of the Group through widespread media coverage.

Buchanan organised an exclusive with The Sunday Telegraph, which featured prominently in both the paper and online. This was followed by supportive commentary from other tier 1 media, newswires, investment focused titles and the trade press.

Buchanan successfully implemented the investor website, a first point of call for current and future investors.

The completion of the IPO was especially satisfying given the challenging equity capital market conditions seen in 2023 and the difficulties faced by other corporates in trying to succeed with a primary fundraising.

Buchanan is very pleased to have completed work on the inaugural annual report for i(x) Net Zero, an AIM listed investment company, focused on the green energy transition.

The creative team worked closely with management to highlight the Company’s unique offering and explain how it provides investors with access to a range of investments working towards a net zero future.

“The team at Buchanan produced a first rate annual report under considerable time pressure. I am very happy with the end result and will be using it as marketing collateral with our key stakeholders.”

by Dmitri Tsvetkov, Chief Operating Officer i(x) Net Zero

View the report here

Buchanan is delighted to have advised Amicorp FS (UK) plc (“AMIF”), the international specialist fund services group, on its successful IPO (LON: AMIF). The Company commenced trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, 8^th June 2023.

AMIF is a specialist provider of fund administration services, regulatory reporting, fiduciary services and multi-faceted business support alternatives for a broad mix of clients across private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, family offices and various asset classes locally and globally. The Group is well placed to support asset managers by leveraging its experience and expertise and take advantage of the significant growth in alternative asset management which, among many factors, are expected to drive its organic growth.

Buchanan advised AMIF through the IPO process and achieved widespread, supportive media coverage across national, investment and trade publications.

Buchanan is delighted to have spent another year working with the team at Velocys in the creation of their annual report.  

This year the main focus was on putting the final building blocks in place to support a global roll-out of its technology which enables the production of sustainable aviation fuel.

View the report here

Appraising

Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets Trust (AWEM), a newly incorporated investment company, began trading on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, 3 May 2023.

Buchanan were engaged to support with their external communications strategy and provide counsel to the company and its broker during the IPO process.

AWEM was the first premium listed IPO in the investment companies sector since November 2021 and the first listed equities-focused investment trust launched since 2018.

The company is seeking to achieve long-term capital growth, primarily through investing in equities that provide exposure to Global Emerging Markets.

Elevating

Buchanan achieved a substantial amount of supportive media coverage during the offer period, educating and informing key sector commentators across a wide variety of media outlets including the Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, Citywire, Investment Trust Newsletter, Shares, Interactive Investor and many more.

This helped the company gain traction with private investors on retail investment platforms AJ Bell, Interactive Investor and Hargreaves Lansdown.

This demand played no small part in helping AWEM reach the required funding commitment to list on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

There were several headwinds to navigate during the process, not least the cautious investor sentiment around new listings, highlighted by the fact that there was not a single investment company IPO in 2022.

Buchanan delivered a remarkably successful result in communicating & promoting the AWEM opportunity against a particularly challenging background for new IPOs, let alone investment company ones. They obtained a most impressive range of media coverage including with several major commentators whose endorsements were undoubtedly critical in securing the launch & listing of the new Company, and they demonstrated handsomely just what an effective PR campaign can achieve when executed & managed as professionally as they did.

Martin Shenfield,
Non-Executive Chairman of Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets Trust plc

Back to Newsroom

Buchanan is delighted to have supported Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets Trust (“AWEM”) on its successful IPO (LON: AWEM). The Company commenced trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, 3 May 2023.

The investment company will seek to achieve long-term capital growth, primarily through investing in equities that provide exposure to Global Emerging Markets. AWEM will provide investors with the opportunity to generate alpha through exposure to a portfolio of great companies at attractive valuations.

“Buchanan delivered a remarkably successful result in communicating & promoting the AWEM opportunity against a particularly challenging background for new IPOs, let alone investment company ones. They obtained a most impressive range of media coverage including with several major commentators whose endorsements were undoubtedly critical in securing the launch & listing of the new Company, and they demonstrated handsomely just what an effective PR campaign can achieve when executed & managed as professionally as they did.”

Martin Shenfield, Non-Executive Chairman of Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets Trust plc

AWEM is the first premium listed IPO in the investment companies sector since November 2021 and the first listed equities-focused investment trust launched since 2018.

Buchanan advised AWEM throughout the IPO process and achieved significant supportive media coverage during the offer period, leading to substantial demand on retail investment platforms.

“The Buchanan team were an integral ingredient to the successful IPO of AWEM, where a well thought-through media plan delivered two prominent articles in the weekend editions of leading national newspapers, in addition to other specialist publications. In our opinion this is the best press coverage of any IPO that Ellora team members have worked on historically. Buchanan adds a great deal of value, based on their leading understanding of the investment companies universe and built on a solid network of quality, longstanding relationships.”

Oliver Kenyon, Corporate Finance at Ellora Partners

PR Week 05.05.23

Panoro Energy ASA is a Norwegian listed independent exploration and production company with production, development, and exploration assets in West and North Africa and exploration assets in South Africa. Oil and gas companies play a vital role in the socio-economic development of countries where they operate, and as an energy company, Panoro have a duty to play a role in transitioning to a more sustainable world.

To deliver its first Sustainability Report, the company engaged Buchanan. The report highlights the high ethical standards maintained at all levels of the organisation, and Buchanan worked closely with employees from various departments to produce it.

The report was prepared in accordance with key standards and frameworks including the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association. The report illustrates the company’s role as a safe pair of hands for the management of oil and gas assets in transition.

Click here to read the sustainability report