Bula makes British peer managing director

An English hereditary peer has been appointed managing director of Bula Resources. Mr Con Casey, who resigned as company secretary in January, has been reappointed to that position.

Viscount Torrington (59) is an Oxford graduate who spent a number of years working in mining in Africa before, in 1975, becoming managing director of Attock Oil, later renamed Anvil Petroleum, a company which had extensive interests in Pakistan.

More recently he has been involved in a number of internet companies as well as a Canadian company, Heritage Oil, which has interests in Africa.

He told The Irish Times he hoped to use his contacts in north and sub-Saharan Africa for the benefit of Bula. He also said he thought the company should try to retain a presence in Libya.

"I've known about Bula for quite a while. I was not exactly at a loose end but a mutual friend put me in touch with the company." He was giving some consideration to joining Bula "and then last Monday accelerated things".

Former Bula chairman Mr Albert Reynolds did not put himself forward for re-election at a difficult Bula annual general meeting on Monday.

The company has approximately 46,000 shareholders and trading in its shares has been suspended since April.

Asked why he was joining a company with very little money and suspended shares, Viscount Torrington said: "It's a challenge but I think something good can be made out of Bula."

He said he would be "basically full time with Bula, subject to the fact that I am on a number of outside boards".

As a hereditary peer rather than a life peer, he no longer has a seat in the House of Lords.

Viscount Torrington is a director of four other companies: family company Baltic Mills Ltd; dormant Tosellonline.com plc; Cyberchina Holdings plc, which advises small companies in China considering a public listing; and the College of Mediators Ltd, which provides mediation advice in private disputes.

Viscount Torrington was managing director of Attock Oil from 1975 up to its sale in the 1980s to a Cayman company, at which point he severed his connection with Attock.

Some years later an investigation by Price Waterhouse into the oil company's relationship with BCCI bank led to the collapse of that bank in one of the greatest banking scandals.