Venture opts for Jones Day on transatlantic funding

Jones Day has acted for Aberdeen-based oil and gas production company Venture Production in relation to £585m of debt financing.

Under a team led by London banking head Ed Nalbantian, the company secured a £350m UK loan, $424m (£210.11m) from US institutional investors and a further £25m from UK institutional investors. The money will be used to finance the ongoing development of the company's asset base and fund future acquisitions.

According to Nalbantian, the financing involved a novel structure that concurrently tapped into the London syndicated loan markets as well as the institutional private placement market on both sides of the Atlantic.

On the syndicated loans side, Venture Production has taken out a medium-term committed corporate debt facility of £350m, which is expected to syndicate in early autumn. Barclays Bank led the syndication advised by Allen & Overy.

The private placements in the UK and US were arranged by London investment bank Schechter & Co advised by Baker Botts.

The loan notes that made up the placement have been secured by the same pool of assets and have final maturity dates of between 10 and 15 years.