Cypriots cooking up alternative offer for Regal

18th Jan 2011 09:23

Trading in AIM-listed oil firm Regal Petroleum was suspended Tuesday as the company unveiled details of a possible alternative offer to the recommended takeover by Energees Management.The new option on the table for Regal shareholders is a proposed reverse takeover of Geo-Alliance, a leading private oil and gas producer in Ukraine.Following completion of the reverse takeover, Regal shareholders (excluding the shareholders of Geo-Alliance) would have the option to sell their Regal shares to Cypriot finance house Heamoor for a period of three months at a price of 25p per Regal share, a price that tops the 24p per share cash offer from Energees.Heamoor or Geo-Alliance is prepared to make a straight cash offer of 25p per Regal share in the event that, by an as yet unspecified date, the necessary approvals to implement the acquisition are not agreed to by the Regal shareholders in a general meeting, or if the merged company's shares are not listed on AIM.Geo-Alliance's assets comprise 16 permit areas covering 16 fields with a combined area of approximately 1,090 square kilometres, of which 15 fields are located in the Dnipro-Donets basin. As of 30th June 2010, Geo-Alliance operated seven wells on four fields and had one well under construction. Geo-Alliance also owns 49 kilometres of pipeline connecting its producing wells to gas treatment facilities and to the Ukrainian gas transmission network. Geo-Alliance operates two new gas treatment and storage facilities, which were commissioned in 2007- 2008.Though the board of Regal has been actively involved in discussing the alternative offer to the Energees bid, there is no guarantee that any offer or proposal from Geo-Alliance and/or Heamoor will be forthcoming, so the board continues to recommend the Energees Offer until such time as a superior firm offer is put forward to Regal shareholders.