Julien Balkany
Julien Balkany
Born(1981-01-29)29 January 1981
Neuilly, France
NationalityFrench
EducationUC Berkeley; IEP Strasbourg
Occupation(s)Investor and Oil & Gas Executive
MovementFrench Right wing – Les Republicains
Board member ofChairman of Panoro Energy, director of Amromco and former director of Gasfrac Energy Services, Noreco Energy and Toreador Resources
Awardsranked #1 on the 2008 annual list of the "30 under 30" traders published by the U.S. magazine Trader Monthly.[1]
Websitehttp://www.julienbalkany.com

Julien Balkany (born 29 January 1981, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is a French businessman and an investor based in London. He is the younger half-brother of former French Member of Parliament and former Mayor of Levallois, Patrick Balkany. He is the Chairman of Panoro Energy ASA, the Norwegian oil & gas company based in London as well as the cofounder of the private investment company Nanes Balkany Partners based in New York. He also ran for office in the June 2012 French Parliament election but was defeated.[2]

Studies and personal life

He is of Hungarian origin, and his father Gyula Balkany was deported to Auschwitz before immigrating to France and founding Rety, a Paris-based fashion house.[3]

He was raised in Neuilly, France and attended schools at Sainte-Croix de Neuilly and then at Prepasup-Ipesup Paris, where he obtained his baccalaureate cum laude. He studied at the Institute of Political Studies in Strasbourg and then Finance at UC Berkeley. He started his career in the emerging markets group of Bear Stearns in New York and lived in mid-town Manhattan.[4]

Business career

In 2008, Julien Balkany co-founded Nanes Balkany Partners with Daryl Nanes. The firm is a New York-based activist hedge fund which primarily pursues active value investments in publicly traded oil and gas companies. He had substantial interests in Vaalco Energy[5] and Toreador Resources Corp. His strategy of attempting to take advantage of undervalued companies has contributed to his reputation of being a raider and an activist shareholder.[6] In November 2010, Balkany disposed of his shares in Nanes Balkany Partners I LP,[7] but remained a partner at Nanes Balkany Partners LLC and co-launched Nanes Balkany Partners II LP in 2012 after being defeated in the French legislative election.[8] In May 2013, Balkany built a large stake in Petrogrand[9] and has been actively seeking to influence the Swedish oil company, to force it to exit Russia[10] and publicly supported Shelton Petroleum hostile takeover attempt.[11]

In 2014 his fund built a stake then became the largest shareholder of Gasfrac Energy Services Inc.,[12] a Canadian publicly listed oil and gas services company, which has developed and commercialized a unique environmentally friendly waterless fracking technology using propane gel (LPG) instead of water and chemical products. In May 2014 he obtained a full change of the board of directors of Gasfrac,[13] including the resignation of the 7 incumbent members of the Board,[14] and the nomination of 6 new directors, including himself.[15] After filing for CCAA protection in January 2015 Gasfrac sold most of its assets to Step Energy Services Ltd, a private coiled tubing company owned by private equity firm ARC Financial Corp.[16] He served as a non-executive director of Gasfrac[17] until the company was acquired by Calfrac Well Services Ltd under a plan of arrangement on 8 July 2015.[18]

In October 2014 he was elected chairman of the board of Panoro Energy,[19] a Norwegian oil and gas exploration and production companies with assets in Tunisia, Nigeria and Gabon listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Nanes Balkany Partners has been one of the new core shareholders[20] of Panoro that proactively obtained the election of a renewed board of directors.[21]

He served as non-executive vice-chairman and director of Toreador, an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in France and listed on the NASDAQ, from January 2009 to March 2011. He initiated changes in management and in the board of directors of Toreador in January 2009,[22] in order to rebuild value for the shareholders.[23] After the firm was highly criticized for its alleged role in the controversy on shale gas exploration in France and the subsequent ban of use of hydraulic fracking technologies, he resigned from the Board in March 2011, with immediate effect. He continued acting in the capacity of a special advisor to Toreador's president until August 2011 when he severed all his links with the company.[24] Toreador completed a merger with Zaza Energy Corporation in February 2012 and later that year disposed of all its assets and businesses in France.

He has been a non-executive director of the board of the Norwegian Energy Company ASA ("Noreco"),[25] a Norwegian oil and gas exploration and production company publicly listed in Oslo and with operations and assets in Norway, the UK and Denmark, from March 2015 to May 2016,[26] until the sale of all its oil and gas assets. In March 2015, Noreco concluded an out-of-court financial restructuring including a debt to equity swap and the election of a new board of directors.[27]

Julien also seats on the board of Amromco the third largest Romanian gas producer, Pan-African Diamonds and Sarmin Bauxite Limited.

Concomitantly, Balkany has been a managing director at Nanes Delorme Capital Management LLC, a New York-based financial advisory and broker-dealer firm, since 2005. He has also been a member of the advisory board of Stellar Energy, a London-based investment bank dedicated to the oil and gas industry.

Recognition

Balkany was ranked #1 on the 2008 annual list of the "30 Under 30" world's top traders and hedge fund managers published by the U.S. magazine Trader Monthly.[1]

In June 2010 he also received an award as one of Institutional Investor Magazine's Hedge Fund Rising Stars at the 8th Annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards.[28]

On 11 February 2013 Balkany was hosted on CNBC Squawk Box by Andrew Ross Sorkin and discussed his views on energy activism and oil and gas M&A.[29]

In August 2018, Julien Balkany was ranked #97 in the list of the Top 100 most influential French entrepreneurs.[30]

Political career

On 11 November 2011, he announced that he would stand as candidate for the June 2012 French legislative elections in the First constituency for French residents overseas, including the United States and Canada.[31] He finished fourth, receiving 6.6% of the vote.[32] In spring 2013 he decided not run for the French legislative election, 2013 in the First constituency for French residents overseas.[33] According to Le Figaro He withdrew from the race after having negotiated to be candidate for the UMP at the European Parliament election due in May 2014.[34]

Controversies

French-language private school controversy

Whilst campaigning in Montreal, Balkany declared he wanted overseas French high schools known as 'Lycée Français' to limit the enrolment of the children of American celebrities so that French nationals could gain access to these exclusive institutions.[35][36] However, these private schools in North America are not under the direct authority of the French government, despite having accreditation with the Agency for French Teaching Abroad.[37]

References

  1. 1 2 "Top Trader under 30". Trade2Win.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  2. ↑ Brennan, Emily (8 June 2012). "In New York, French Politics is Local". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Pétrole dans le Bassin parisien : la stratégie de Julien Balkany Archived 26 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Kuitenbrouwer, Peter. "Canada to France: keep your election to yourself". National Post. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  5. ↑ A Cure for the Bad-CEO Blues: Sue Your Shareholders 15 May 2008
  6. ↑ Times are tougher for Activists Euromoney, 4 March 2009
  7. ↑ , Business Wire, 21 December 2010
  8. ↑ "Nanes Balkany Starts One-Time Activist Fund". Issuu.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  9. ↑ "Petrogrand – Petrogrand". Petrogrand.se. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  10. ↑ French Activist investor says Petrogrand should exit Russia Reuters, 17 May 2013
  11. ↑ Nanes Balkany Partners announces support for Shelton Petroleum increased bid for Petrogrand 20 March 2014
  12. ↑ "Gasfrac Website". Gasfrac.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  13. ↑ Gasfrac and Nanes Balkany Reach Agreement, 29 April 2014
  14. ↑ Nanes Balkany replace board of directors of Gasfrac Calgary Herald, 29 April 2014
  15. ↑ Gasfrac Announces Appointments of New Board Wall Street Journal, 29 May 2014
  16. ↑ Step Energy Buys most of Gasfrac Assets Calgary Herald, 22 March 2015
  17. ↑ "GASFRAC – Home". Archive.is. 7 July 2014. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  18. ↑ Gasfrac Announces Acquisition By Calfrac, 8 July 2015
  19. ↑
  20. ↑ Activist Demands Changes at Panoro ValueWalk, 22 September 2014
  21. ↑ Nanes Balkany endorses Panoro new board of directors, 9 October 2014
  22. ↑ Activist fund builds up 5.1% stake in Toreador Financial Times, 5 December 2008
  23. ↑ Capital Markets Crusaders; Activist investors strike out, and Corporate America strikes back Investor Dealer's Digest, 15 December 2008
  24. ↑ Toreador Resources Corporation today announced fourth quarter and full year 2010 financial results , 16 March 2008
  25. ↑ "Noreco Website". Boreco.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  26. ↑ "Noreco announces management changes – Noreco". noreco.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  27. ↑ "Proposed board and nomination committee members – Noreco". 16 June 2016. Archived from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  28. ↑ "The 8th Annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards – Rising Stars of Hedge Funds". Hedgefundindustryawards.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  29. ↑ "Energy: Delivering Alpha With Activism". Cnbc.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  30. ↑ Cag, Derin (20 August 2018). "Top 100 French Entrepreneurs 2018: From Claude Posternak to Fleur Pellerin, These Are the Most Influential Entrepreneurs From France". Richtopia.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  31. ↑ article JDD "Julien Balkany : "J'ai décidé d'être candidat aux législatives" en 2012", Le Journal du Dimanche, 12 November 2011
  32. ↑ Official results of the first round Archived 11 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  33. ↑ article France-Amerique "Julien Balkany confirme qu’il ne se presentera pas" « France-Amerique », 23 April 2013
  34. ↑ le Figaro "Julien Balkany candidat UMP aux Europeennes", 5 March 2013
  35. ↑ A French politician has staked his election bid on a call to expel the child of famous names such as Madonna from the French lycee in New York. Telegraph.co.uk, 2 April 2012
  36. ↑ ""Unacceptable" that children of Madonna and Angelina Jolie go to New York's French school". En.rfi.fr. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  37. ↑ http://www.aefe.fr/fiche-etablissement?num=273N09&etname=&continent=&pays=&ville= Agency for French Teaching Abroad
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