Canadian Oilfield Giant Plots London Float

A Canada-based oilfield services group is plotting a £600m stock market listing in London that will underline the City's status as an international hub for the industry to raise funds.

Sky News has learned that Saxon Energy Services has hired bankers to prepare a flotation that would see it join the likes of Amec (Other OTC: AMCBF - news) and Weir Group among its peers on the London market.

Saxon is jointly owned by Schlumberger (Berlin: 44SA.BE - news) , the energy technology group, and First Reserve, an investment firm which focuses on the oil and gas sector. The company’s senior executives, who since March have been led by Derek Normore, the chief executive, also hold a small stake.

Insiders said on Friday that Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) and JP Morgan Cazenove, the investment banks, had been appointed by Saxon to work on the listing, which was likely to seek to raise roughly $350m (£230m).

The issue of new shares will be used to provide funds for investment in new rigs, according to one person briefed on Saxon’s plans.

The global oilfield services sector is expanding as oil explorers attempt to access harder-to-reach reserves. Saxon was established in 2005 with nine rigs in Ecuador but has since expanded to operate more than ten times that number, employing almost 4000 people in 13 countries.

The company is hoping to list in the coming months and possibly as soon as this year. A number of other stock market listings are likely in London in the autumn, including Merlin Entertainments, the theme park operator.