Eco warriors vow to continue court battle over oil firm’s flotation
Ecology campaigners pledge to continue fighting rare legal battle with city regulator over listing of North Sea oil company Ithaca Energy
Environmental campaigners have vowed to continue a rare legal battle with the city regulator over the listing of North Sea oil company Ithaca Energy.
Environmental group ClientEarth filed a lawsuit against the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in February alleging that the watchdog illegally signed documents related to Ithaca’s £2.5 billion IPO last year.
ClientEarth claimed that Ithaca’s listing papers failed to adequately outline the risks to the company – one of the largest producers of fossil fuels in the North Sea – from climate change.
Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed the case, which took the form of a judicial review. But ClientEarth has vowed to appeal, insisting the regulator “failed” by reviewing Ithaca’s prospectus, a legal document companies are required to publish prior to an IPO.
The environmental group argues that while its prospectus acknowledged that climate change poses a risk to oil and gas companies, Ithaca failed to explain ahead of its IPO how significant the risks could be to its business, including setting up new oil and gas companies. gas projects. It claims these are incompatible with climate goals, especially given the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to less than 2°C.
Control: Ithaca Energy has become one of the major players in the North Sea
ClientEarth states that this outage was subsequently ignored by the FCA. Robert Clarke, a lawyer for ClientEarth, said: ‘One of the most important roles of the regulator is to protect investors.
An important way to do that is to ensure that companies applying to list on the London Stock Exchange adequately disclose the risks associated with their activities, including climate-related risks.
“In the case of Ithaca’s listing, we believe that the regulator failed to ultimately pass Ithaca’s prospectus, even though regulatory requirements were not met.”
The FCA said ClientEarth “is not authorized to make the claim,” adding, “In any event, the prospectus addresses the risks arising from climate-related factors to Ithaca’s business and securities.”
The lawyers said ClientEarth was not “directly affected by the decision to approve Ithaca’s prospectus.”
Ithaca was floated in November in the UK’s largest public listing of 2022. It has intensively researched its stakes in the Cambo and Rosebank oil and gas fields, which have made Ithaca one of the key players in the North Sea .
There has been a renewed focus on oil and gas production in the UK since the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted Britain to get rid of foreign imports.
Ithaca’s shares are down about 30 percent since going public. It is now valued at £1.6 billion.
A spokesperson for ClientEarth said: “We are disappointed, but will request that the decision be reconsidered under the court’s procedural rules.”
An FCA spokesperson said: ‘We welcome the court’s decision to deny ClientEarth’s application for permission to apply for judicial review. It would have to renew its requests for permission if it is to continue its cause and we will oppose any such request.”