Oil Search rejected an unsolicited takeover proposal from Santos Ltd valuing the Papua New Guinea-focused oil and gas producer at A$8.8 billion ($6.5 billion), but both companies said they wanted to pursue further talks.
Oil Search said the offer was not in the best interests of shareholders, but its shares rose 8% after both companies said it made sense to create a group that would rival Australia's top independent gas producer Woodside Petroleum in market value.
"Oil Search agrees with Santos that there is strategic logic in a combination of the two companies," Oil Search said in a statement, but added that Santos had yet to come back with a fair offer.
The approach comes at a vulnerable time for Oil Search as it is searching for a new chief executive to replace Keiran Wulff, who quit on Monday last week following just 17 months in the job due to ill health and following a whistleblower complaint. It also just put on hold a final decision on a $3 billion oil project in Alaska.
Santos made the approach on June 25, but the proposal was only revealed this past Tuesday after Oil Search Chairman Rick Lee a day earlier, on a call about Wulff's resignation, told analysts the company had not received any approaches.
Santos said it proposed to offer 0.589 new Santos shares for each Oil Search share held. Based on Santos' closing share price on June 24, that was worth A$4.25 per Oil Search share, a 12% premium to Oil Search's share price at the time.
"Santos continues to believe that the merger proposal represents an extremely attractive opportunity to deliver compelling value accretion to both Santos and Oil Search shareholders," Santos said in a statement.
Source: Reuters
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