Kosmos Energy shares rise in IPO

Shares of Dallas oil and natural gas company Kosmos Energy Ltd. rose as much as 9 percent in their first day of trading Thursday as investors bet the company could find another rich oil field.

Kosmos owners Warburg Pincus LLC and Blackstone Group LP sold a 10 percent stake in the energy company and raised $594 million. Shares closed Thursday at $18.24, up 24 cents from the initial public offering price.

“These guys have a very good track record,” said Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. “They are known and they are backed up by two very smart private equity funds.”

“People are buying it on the hope that there will be more discoveries,” said Gheit.

The exploration and production company sold 33 million shares at $18 each, 10 percent more than it sought

Kosmos owns about a 23 percent stake in Ghana’s Jubilee oil field, the biggest offshore discovery in West Africa in a decade, according to a prospectus.

Exxon Mobil Corp. had offered to buy the stake for $4 billion but killed the deal last year after the government of Ghana opposed it.

Proceeds from Kosmos’ share sale will fund exploration and drilling in Ghana and Cameroon through 2013. The company is also making a $15 million payment to Ghana National Petroleum Corp. under a prior agreement to resolve past disputes, according to its April 25 prospectus.

Bloomberg News,