Kosmos Energy Ltd., an oil and gas
exploration and production company focused on Africa, filed for
an initial public offering of as much as $500 million.

Kosmos disclosed the plan in a U.S. regulatory filing with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares will be
listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Credit Suisse Group AG,
Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Capital are the underwriters.

The company, backed by private equity firms Warburg Pincus
LLC and Blackstone Group LP, is a partner in Ghana’s Jubilee
project that holds an estimated one billion barrels of crude.
Ghana last month ended an investigation of Kosmos after earlier
blocking a bid by the company to sell its stake to Exxon Mobil
Corp. for $4 billion.

Tullow Oil Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Ghana National
Petroleum Corp. are Kosmos’s partners on Jubilee. Output may
rise from 50,000 barrels of oil a day in December to 120,000
barrels a day within six months, Tullow said in November.

Private equity firms exited buyout investments at a record
pace last quarter, as rising equity markets allowed them to sell
assets and return cash to fund investors, according to Preqin
Ltd., a London-based research firm.

Last year, private equity-backed IPOs rose 3.8 percent on
average in the first month of trading, less than half the 8.1
percent advance for all other IPOs, data compiled by Bloomberg
show.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian Swint in London at
bswint@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net