Former BP boss Tony Hayward and financier Nat Rothschild said they had raised £1.35 billion (€1.53 billion) from investors to create a bid vehicle to target emerging market oil assets.

Vallares, as the company will be known, aims to make a reverse takeover of an unlisted oil group in an emerging market, which needs money to develop its assets.

Vallares effectively offers a target, whose owners may end up with a majority stake of the listed company, a fast-track route to a United Kingdom stock market listing and, thereby, the ability to raise money more cheaply than they currently can. It has two years to strike a deal, or to return cash to investors. It will begin unconditional trading on the London Stock Exchange on June 22nd.