United Energy Group Ltd, the Hong Kong-listed oil and gas conglomerate, is set for meteoric growth.
Armed with a $5bn loan from the China Development Bank, and fresh from its $775m purchase of BP's upstream oil and gas assets in Pakistan, United is now on the prowl for other global opportunities to buy.
The company has clearly stated its intentions of growing its net worth from a current value of around $1bn to becoming a "$10bn enterprise" within the next five years. According to Executive Director Leo Kirby, United "quite like the model of large oil companies exiting countries where we take over their operations, take over their people."
The company is looking worldwide for potential purchases of between $750m to $1bn and claims to be in the process of negotiating one deal that may comlete by next year. However United made it clear it was unlikely to be looking at Russia, Europe or sanctioned countries such as Iran, Sudan or North Korea.