Hayward, Rothschild and their partners said Thursday that Vallares will use the proceeds to acquire a company which holds significant undeveloped resources, especially oil or gas. They said they will be looking primarily in underdeveloped regions for a target.

“We will have the cash, access to funds and the capability to unlock value where the current owners have neither the capital nor technical expertise to develop the assets,” Hayward said.

The four partners plan to publish a prospectus on June 20 offering shares at £10 each.

They say they have committed 100 million pounds to the venture, of which 80 million pounds will be invested in purchasing shares in the flotation on the London Stock Exchange.

Hayward, 54, was forced to step down as BP chief executive after a series of gaffes during the company’s response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year. He still has a job on the board of BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP, and he is a director of the recently floated commodities trader Glencore International PLC.

Rothschild, 39, also has a background in energy as founder of Vallar PLC which has major coal-mining interests in Indonesia.

The other partners are investment manager Tom Daniel, 46, who was involved in floating Vallar, and Julian Metherell, 48, former chief executive of Goldman Sachs’ investment banking business in Britain.