Kirk Lovegrove & Company (KLC) is an energy advisory company, established in November 2018, based in London but with global reach. The company’s focus is to provide its clients with trusted, independent, expert advice against a background of the highest ethical standards.

The two founding Directors, Martin Lovegrove and Niels Kirk, have long-established and well-respected reputations in the area of oil & gas advisory. They have extensive senior global contacts in the industry and are recognised as subject matter experts in funding in the capital markets. Martin’s experience centres around strategy, acquisitions and divestitures whilst Niels’s background provides expertise in key areas of energy corporate banking.  The third founding member of the company is Michael Bridden, who has a technical background, as well as extensive experience in the oil & gas industry and advisory. In March 2021 Martin Copeland joined as a Principal, bringing experience and a skillset which complements that of the KLC founders. 

Services

Corporate Strategy and Business Development

KLC has a proven track record of evaluating and providing advisory services covering:

• Organisational objectives
• Stakeholder requirements and ambitions
• The economic and sector environment
• Peer/competitor review and analysis
• Identification of strengths and weaknesses
• Setting an appropriate and achievable strategy
• Portfolio Optimisation
• Growth options

Mergers and Acquisitions

Leading or working alongside a client’s investment or commercial bank KLC can:

• Pro-actively identify corporate acquisition opportunities
• Review industrial logic of the proposed acquisition
• Develop the most effective steps in the acquisition or defence strategy
• Advise on tactics and negotiations
• Identify and consider potential stakeholder issues
• In acquisitions, identify potential counter-bidders
• In defence, identify appropriate counter-bidders and alternative means of maximising shareholder value
• Consider valuation/pricing issues
• Review financing issues including, but not limited to bankability and staple finance
• Assess the viability of deal contingent swaps – commodity, Forex and interest rates
• Review key documents by way of a sanity check
• Advise against conventional wisdom simply to “do a deal”

Asset Acquisitions and Divestitures

Acquisitions / Swaps:

• pro-actively identify targets for acquisition
• support the data gathering and evaluation process
• support valuation and pricing
• review financing issues if required including bankability, staple finance and deal contingent swaps
• review all relevant documentation
• identify potential competitors and if possible, gauge their likely strategy
• identify and consider stakeholder issues
• assist in drafting offer letters and design offer strategy/tactics
• assist in negotiations to secure best possible outcome

Divestitures / Swaps:

• identify appropriate potential buyers
• design sale and swap strategies/tactics and formulate timetables to closure
• support the data gathering and evaluation process
• identify possible market pricing and support analysis around minimum sales price
• prepare marketing documents
• staple financing options if appropriate
• identify and consider potential stakeholder issues
• support the production of key commercial (but not legal) documentation – evaluate offers and assist in negotiations to secure the best possible outcome

Financial Advisory

Working with the client and, where appropriate, its investment or commercial bank, KLC is able to provide advisory services covering:

Capital Structure
Capital structure optimisation, structure and financial solutions, sources & uses of funds, levers of liquidity, ratings advisory

Capital Raising
Acquisition/event-driven finance, structured finance, banks, bonds and alternatives, equity/equity-linked products, derivatives, and hedging, exit finance

Special Financial Situations
Liability management, maturity extensions, CAPEX & dividend financing, complex covenant or structure modifications, recapitalisation

Treasury and Cash Management
Treasury diagnostics, selection of appropriate banking partners and services, cash forecasting, design in-house banking payment structures, Treasury transformation, M&A integration

Market Risk Management
Analysis of key risks such as Commodity price, Forex and interest rates

Determine strategic, operational and financial hedging solutions, currency mix of debt vs cash flows, improving processes, reporting/general policies

In many of these areas scope exists to refer business, in particular, to the corporate lending arm of selected commercial banks, trading houses, private equity providers and leveraged finance institutions.

Website   l   Linkedin 'People'