SONA (5241) : Things Moving For Sona Petroleum
All things said and done, Ophir is offering to buyout Salamander. But Salamander must reject the sale of assets to Sona. A deal is an agreement, and if Salamander wants to get out of the SPA with Sona, there would be hefty penalties coming the way for Sona Petroleum. Getting SC/Bursa approval would be the nail in the coffin and unwinding it would be close to zilch. Unless they go to courts, which will eventually result in Salamander having to pay a hefty penalty to Sona if they really wanted the Ophir deal. Either way, Sona should come out of this looking good or better than good.
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All things said and done, Ophir is offering to buyout Salamander. But Salamander must reject the sale of assets to Sona. A deal is an agreement, and if Salamander wants to get out of the SPA with Sona, there would be hefty penalties coming the way for Sona Petroleum. Getting SC/Bursa approval would be the nail in the coffin and unwinding it would be close to zilch. Unless they go to courts, which will eventually result in Salamander having to pay a hefty penalty to Sona if they really wanted the Ophir deal. Either way, Sona should come out of this looking good or better than good.
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Sona Said to Get Malaysian Approval for Salamander Thai Assets
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Sona Petroleum Bhd. (SONA),
a company with no assets or track record, won approval from the
Malaysian Securities Commission to buy a stake in two Thai oil and gas
blocks, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The
so-called blank check company targets to complete the deal by the end
of this year after getting shareholder approvals, the person said,
asking not to be identified as the details aren’t yet public. Sona,
which raised 550 million ringgit ($164 million) in an initial public
offering last year, agreed in June to buy 40 percent of London-based Salamander Energy Plc (SMDR)’s assets in the Gulf of Thailand for $281 million.
The
Salamander assets would be the first for Sona since its listing and
pave the way for the Kuala Lumpur-based company to become an independent
upstream oil and gas company. To complete the purchase, it will need to
overcome African explorer Ophir Energy Plc (OPHR)’s offer to acquire Salamander on the condition it doesn’t sell the Thai assets.
Saw
Choo Boon, vice president of business development at Sona, declined to
comment when contacted by phone today. Malaysia’s Securities Commission
head of corporate affairs Jaya Menon could not be immediately reached
for comment when contacted on her mobile and office.
Ophir
said in an exchange filing today Salamander accepted its all-stock
offer to buy the company. One of the conditions of Ophir’s offer is that
Salamander shareholders reject the sale of the Thai assets to Sona.
Owners of a 25.9 percent stake in Salamander have agreed to accept the
Ophir offer and reject the Sona deal, according to today’s filing.
Sona is trying to buy a stake in the Bualuang oilfield, which has been operating since
2008 and is expected to produce an average of 11,000 to 14,000 barrels
of oil daily this year, according to Salamander’s website. It would also
gain an interest in an nearby exploration concession.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elffie Chew in Kuala Lumpur at echew16@bloomberg.net
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