Business guerrillas

Here's how Phillipe-Henri Edmonds and his little company, White Nile, bested the oil giant Total in securing rights to the Sudan's southern oil fields (pulled from the excellent tale told by Neil King of the Wall Street Journal). It combines:

• Nation-state Fragmentation. Sudan's southern province gained substantial autonomy from the central government as part of a peace deal (with an option for full autonomy in 2011). Total's long standing contracts for the southern fields (with likely more oil than the Gulf of Mexico) were with the central government. Total ignored the southern government (the SPLA) when it emerged.
• Alignment with primary loyalties . Edmonds courted the southern government and offered them a fair deal -- 50% ownership in the company. He also won on the basis that he wanted a win-win deal. The company's motto is: "Our Peace, Our Land, Our Oil, Our Liberty."
• Easy entry capital markets. Edmond's listed the venture on London's Alternative Investment Market. The stock rocketed to a $360 million valuation before trading was stopped on speculation that the deal could be made. Edmond signed the deal and the stock will begin trading again in two weeks.

Comments

[tim]

50 percent is okay but not great. In other places, (Nigeria for example) the government takes approximately 60 percent.

The real issue (from my perspective) , is how much of that money will enrich the Southern Sudan, and how much will simply gather interest in an account in Switzerland or Grand Cayman.