British oil producer Hurricane Energy surges on acquisition deal with Prax
16/03/2023 10:48
March 16 (Reuters) - Shares in Hurricane Energy HUR.L
soared up to 31% after it agreed on Thursday to be bought by
London-based oil refining firm Prax Exploration & Production,
valuing the British oil producer at 249 million pounds ($300.6
million).
The 12.5 pence-per-share offer, including firm proceeds of
4.5 pence a share worth about 83 million pounds, represents a
premium of 84% to the Hurricane stock's closing price on Nov. 1,
the last trading day prior to the formal sale process
announcement, the companies said in a joint statement.
Besides the firm proceeds, each Hurricane shareholder will
be entitled to get a supplementary dividend — in the form of a
special payout declared before the scheme effective date — of up
to 1.87 pence per share in cash, and a deferred consideration
unit of up to 6.48 pence per share in cash.
The Hurricane stock touched an intra-day high of 9 pence,
its highest level in nearly six months, and the shares were
trading 6.3% higher at 7.30 pence as of 1028 GMT.
The acquisition will help Prax, a unit of State Oil Ltd, in
building on its commitment to develop a sizeable upstream
business in the North Sea.
The directors of Hurricane intend to unanimously recommend
shareholders to vote in favour of the transaction, the company
said.
Hurricane in November put itself up for sale after receiving
a takeover proposal it rejected as too low. In December, its
largest shareholder Crystal Amber Fund CRSL.L called for a
vote on the removal of the firm's top management.
Shareholders in Capricorn Energy CNE.L , Hurricane's fellow
London-listed oil and gas firm, last month voted in favour of
six new directors activist Palliser had proposed as they
successfully revolted against merger plans with Israeli gas
producer NewMed Energy NWMDp.TA .
($1 = 0.8284 pounds)
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; editing by
Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)
((abyjose.koilparambil@thomsonreuters.com; +919986528692;))