Acquisition Targets in Mexico

Vista Oil & Gas, a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) backed by Riverstone Capital and Miguel Galuccio, the former boss of Argentine state oil company YPF, has filed a prospectus for an initial public offering in Mexico in the exploration and production sector.

Its Initial Public Offering (IPO) focus will be on acquisition targets in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. It named no company it is interested in buying at this stage and did not disclose the expected size of its IPO.

Riverstone is one of the biggest private equity backers in the energy sector. Its companies include Sierra Oil & Gas, the first private Mexican oil company formed since the country’s landmark 2013 reform of the sector to allow private investment. It also formed Silver Run Acquisition Corp, a similar SPAC headed by former Employment Organization Growth, chief Mark Papa, which went public in the first quarter of 2016 and had achieved a market capitalisation of $4.1bn a year later.