The little-known boss of Turkey's Genel Energji may soon find himself running one of Britain's largest listed companies but with regulatory probes involving Genel in Norway and the UK, challenges remain. In June, privately-held Genel agreed to a merge its Iraqi unit with Heritage Oil in a deal which envisaged Genel CEO Mehmet Sepil taking the helm of and a 20 percent stake in, the enlarged company, to be renamed HeritaGE.
The Mehmet Sepil group owns around 44 percent of Genel, while the Cukurova group, owned by one of Turkey's most powerful and publicity-shy businessmen, Emin Karamehmet, has 56 percent. As part of the deal - which aims to create a $6 billion oil company focused on Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region that analysts said would likely enter the FTSE 100 index of the UK's largest companies - Karamehmet is also to join the HeritaGE board.
However, Sepil's plans took a knock in August when Heritage said it had become aware of an investigation by the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
That probe "could potentially affect the ability of certain members of Genel's operational management team to assume their proposed roles in the combined entity," Heritage said in a statement without naming the individuals.
Last Friday it emerged that Genel was involved in an Oslo Stock Exchange probe into its purchase of $30 million worth of shares in Kurdistan-focussed DNO International, through the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). On Thursday, Norway's financial watchdog Kredittilsynet said it had asked the police to investigate the matter. DNO's shares halved in value on Thursday after the KRG withdrew the company's licences, saying publicity surrounding the share sale had done the region "unjustifiable and incalculable" harm.
Sepil declined to comment on the DNO share sale or the FSA probe. "That has already been written about substantially so I don't think Genel has anything else to add at this time," he said of the DNO issue in a telephone interview. Sepil, 55, founded Genel Enerji, an oil exploration and production company, and parent of the unit merging with Heritage, in 2002, in co-operation with Cukurova.
With his shoulder-length hair and closely shaven beard, Sepil cuts a striking figure at industry events where he has extolled the virtues of investing in the Kurdish region. In June he attended a ceremony, replete with light show, held by the Kurdish northern Iraqi government for its first oil production from the Taq Taq Field, and the Tawke Field where Genel worked with DNO.
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