Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) finally came through with a formal cash offer for Dana Petroleum Plc (LON:DNX) this morning following several weeks of speculation about a possible deal. The offer price has been set at 1,800 pence per share, valuing all of Dana’s outstanding shares and its convertible bonds at £1.87bn. The move was rejected by the Dana board, leaving KNOC to proceed with a direct appeal to the company’s shareholders. It is understood that the group has received letters of intent in support of the share offer from shareholders representing approximately 48.62% of Dana’s share capital. For more details about the KNOC approach, click here.

Dr Seong-Hoon Kim, senior executive vice president of KNOC, said: “We believe that our offer of 1,800 pence per share fully and fairly reflects all of Dana's recently announced and ongoing developments, together with its exploration potential. Our view on value is based on a very detailed analysis of Dana and takes into account all of the information available to us, including the recent operational and corporate transaction announcements by Dana. It has always been our desire to agree a recommended transaction with the Board of Dana and we are very disappointed that the Board of Dana does not agree that 1,800 pence per share represents a full and fair value for the company. We believe that we have no alternative other than to put our attractive proposal directly to shareholders given the inability to reach a private agreement with the Board of Dana. We hope that Dana shareholders will recognise the merits of our offer in order to bring this process to a successful conclusion.”

KNOC is a fully state-owned energy company whose objectives are to explore and secure energy sources and to store and distribute petroleum stocks for the Republic of Korea. It has an ambitious strategy to grow its production and reserve base and intends to achieve this growth, in part, through the acquisition of oil and gas assets and companies. KNOC already has a well-established track-record of international acquisitions and Dana represents an opportunity for KNOC to expand further its core lines of international business.

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