Word of mouth gets Norton Rose the gig with Quorum Oil and Gas

Norton Rose has advised new client Quorum Oil and Gas Technology on its initial public offering and listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The transaction was carried out without any formal pitch. Quorum managing partner and chief executive Wanda Dorosz and ex-Lukoil financial services chief legal officer and current Quorum partner David Sefton sought out the lead partners on the deal following a recommendation.

The team was led by corporate finance partners David Baylis and Ian Moore and regulation partner Jonathan Herbst. Corporate finance associates Jenn Black and Akshay Dosaj and regulation associate Damisi Johnson assisted. Partner David Cohen advised on the share option arrangements.

It was a straightforward and fast transaction, moving from instruction to listing in under two months.

The listing was made through a placing comprising 4,258,690 new participating redeemable preference shares. This represents a total placing of around $43m (£21.96m) at the offer price of $10 (£5.50) per share. The admission date was 7 January 2008.

Guernsey-incorporated Quorum is managed by Canadian investment managers and will use proceeds from the placing to provide growth capital to other companies developing technology that could have a major impact on the oil and gas sector.

Partner William Simpson and associates Caroline Chang and Ed Cumming at Ogier advised on Guernsey-related matters. Financial services partner Lori Prokopich and securities associate Howard Burshstein at Cassels Brock & Blackwell provided Quorum with Canadian law advice.