The story of how Paddy Adenuga nearly acquired Chevron Netherlands is captivating
The business thriller story titled: “A lion in the North sea: The battle for Chevron Netherlands” on the website The Africa Archive
starts with how he left his father’s business empire to strike it rich
on his own. He came up a ‘Trojan horse’ idea of acquiring a foreign oil
exploration and production firm and market it to African oil majors in
Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, as a technical partner.
Though,
only 29 at the time, he had acquired experience serving in the capacity
of group executive director at his father’s oil firm ConOil, and overseen ConOil Producing’s $1.3 billion successful bid for Shell Nigeria’s OML 30 oil block.
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Paddy Adenuga says he has been engaged twice but called them off.(Twitter / Paddy Adenuga)
He was armed and ready to go.
Trojan Horse
He wrote: “Most
of the oil producing nations in sub-Saharan Africa such as Nigeria,
Angola, and Equatorial Guinea would always require any investor into oil
& gas assets in their country to either be an oil & gas
operator with production on stream or be partnered with an operator,
deemed a “technical partner”. This logic makes sense. If you are going
to buy prized national assets, you should have the know how to develop
and operate them or at least be partnered with an entity that does. I
decided that I was going to use a Trojan Horse strategy. I had read
ancient Greek literature when I’d attended military academy in Texas and
it served as inspiration. I would acquire an oil & gas operating
company in Europe (the Trojan Horse), where the political barriers and
costs to entry in comparison to Africa would be significantly lower. I
would then use this newly acquired company, which would now be of
Afro-European in heritage, to become a technical partner to many local
and international investors in the upstream oil & gas business in
Africa. This company would be the first of its kind and likely the most
sought-after oil & gas company on the African continent because of
its unique DNA and ownership. After thinking of this idea, I took myself
out to a bar a few blocks from my house and ordered myself a nice
strong drink. I felt like a genius.”
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Paddy Adenuga with Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola (Instagram/paddy.adenuga )
The
lengthy post shed much light on the intriguing world of oil and gas
deal making and ambitions of the rich and powerful. His personal quest
to make a name for himself outside his father’s shadow set him on a
business trips crisscrossing between London, Switzerland and the U.S.
Eventually
opportunity came when Paddy got wind of information that Chevron
Netherlands was offloading its assets. He assembled a world class
management team of oil & gas veterans and put out a bid for the
Chevron asset.
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Paddy Adenuga(Media Gist Daily)
When he presented himself at Dutch government office to show his interest in the bid, he wrote: "I
finally met Jan-Dirk at his offices with his head of operations, Thijs.
I could see in both their faces, looks of confusion and reverence at
the same time. How could a 29-year-old Nigerian have found himself in a
position to buy Chevron’s business in the Netherlands? I told Jan-Dirk
and Thijs of my intentions and that I took this bid seriously and wanted
to make sure that I did everything right in the eyes of not only
Chevron but the Dutch government. They both assured me that I was on the
right track and that if there was any issue, they would let me know. I
spent a few more days in Amsterdam, met up with a few friends, and
enjoyed the Dutch nightlife and hospitality. I flew back to London.”
Unfortunately his company Catalan Corporation, lost the bid to Oman's Petrogas in an enthralling, high stakes, bidding war.
Son of a billionaire
Paddy
Adenuga is the son of Nigerian billionaire Mike Adenuga. He is
reportedly worth $5.5bn. Paddy Adenuga was born on June 21, 1984 in
London, England.
After studying at Corona Primary School, Victoria Island and Kings College Secondary School, Paddy attended Marine Military Academy in Texas.
He later moved to The Tenney School
in Houston and graduated High School at the age of 13. In 2002, at the
age of 20, he graduated with a Bachelors in Business Management.
After
completing his education, he worked in his father's company from
2002-2006. He was the Group Executive Director of GLO and ConOil
Producing.
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Paddy Adenuga and his father Mike Adenuga (360 Nobs )
In
2006, he left his father's wings to establish his oil brokering firm.
Three years later, he re-joined GLO as co-CEO of GLO & ConOil
Producing.
Social media presence
Lately, Paddy Adenuga has been trending on social media. On January 17, 2018, Paddy Adenuga said that he can't date a woman who wears wigs or lace fronts.
He tweeted on Wednesday, January 17 I can't date you if you wear wigs or lace front.. never! I have standards and I refuse to compromise?" Of course this trended on social media.
Earlier in the year, he revealed he was engaged twice but had to cancel it.
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