TIDMGAS

RNS Number : 1817W

Gasol plc

23 December 2013

23 December 2013

Gasol plc

("Gasol" or the "Company")

Acquisition and Statement re Suspension

The board of Gasol is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a conditional agreement (the "SPA") to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Energie de Côte d'Ivoire S.A. ("Enerci") (the "Acquisition") from GDF SUEZ E&P International S.A. (the "Seller"). By virtue of Enerci's size relative to the Company's, the Acquisition constitutes a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies. In accordance with the AIM Rules, trading in the Ordinary Shares will be suspended with effect from 7.30am today pending publication of an Admission Document by the Company, which is expected to occur within the first quarter of 2014. In the event that an Admission Document has not been published within six months of today's date (and the Acquisition has not lapsed), in accordance with AIM Rule 41, the Company's shares will be cancelled from admission to trading on AIM.

Enerci is a Côte d'Ivoire registered company that owns a 12% participating interest under a joint operating agreement ("JOA") in a production sharing contract ("PSC") providing access via licence (the "CI-27 Licence") to offshore oil and gas reserves located in a c. 350 km(2) area of the Côte d'Ivoire basin. The other parties to the JOA and the PSC are Foxtrot International, Saur Energie Côte d'Ivoire and Société Nationale d'Opérations Pétrolières de la Côte d'Ivoire (Petroci, the national oil company of Côte d'Ivoire).

The fields within the CI-27 Licence currently produce c. 137mmscfd of gas and c. 1,000 barrels of condensate/oil daily (YTD to end November 2013). All gas production is transported by pipeline to Abidjan, the economic centre and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, for onward sale to the country's power producers under long-term contracts. Production under the CI-27 Licence accounted for more than 65% of Côte d'Ivoire's gas production in 2012.

In the year ended 31 December 2012, Enerci's share of the revenues under the PSC were EUR27.1m, with a pre-tax profit of EUR12.0m.

The total consideration payable by the Company in connection with the Acquisition will be US$116.092m in cash, payable as follows: (i) US$108m (plus interest calculated from 31 December 2012 up to but excluding the date on which the Acquisition is completed (the "Completion Date")) payable in cash on the Completion Date, and (ii) US$8.092m contingent on certain events (the "Retention"). The completion payment will be adjusted for the surplus of funds paid or loaned by the Seller to Enerci between signing and the Completion Date less amounts repaid over the same period. The Retention will be paid in two tranches, with the second immediately following or before 20 July 2015, the final amount to be determined in due course.

The amount payable at the Completion Date is expected to be funded by a US$76m debt facility to be structured and led by Deutsche Bank and Gasol's internal sources and existing facilities. Gasol will pay a deposit of US$2m (the "Deposit") on confirmation of financing from Deutsche Bank; this is the trigger date under the SPA ("Trigger Date"). The Deposit will form part of the consideration payable at completion. The Deposit is repayable by the Seller to the Company in certain circumstances.

The SPA contains customary representations and warranties and other protections provided by the Seller to the Company and vice versa. The Purchaser under the SPA will be Enerci (UK) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

The Acquisition constitutes a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies and, accordingly, is conditional upon the publication of an admission document by the Company and the approval of the Company's shareholders at general meeting. Completion of the Acquisition is also conditional upon, inter alia:

   --    entry into the US$76m debt facility with Deutsche Bank; 
   --    approval of the Acquisition by the government of Côte d'Ivoire; and 
   --    waiver of the pre-emption rights of the JOA parties in relation to the sale of Enerci. 

For completion of the Acquisition to take place, all conditions under the SPA need to be satisfied by 6 months from the Trigger Date or such later date as the Company and the Seller may agree.

African Gas Development Corporation Limited and Afren plc have each entered into an irrevocable undertaking to vote their entire beneficial holdings of, in aggregate, 26,542,446 ordinary shares of 0.5 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") in the Company, representing 79.2% of Gasol's issued share capital, in favour of any resolution put forward at a general meeting to approve the Acquisition.

Alan Buxton, Gasol's Chief Operating Officer, said:

"We are delighted to have reached an agreement to acquire a 12% interest in the CI-27 licence, which is the largest gas field offshore the Côte d'Ivoire and has an extensive production history. The acquisition provides us with an opportunity to bring a revenue-generating, profitable and self-funding asset into the group and, as such, represents a key milestone in our development as well as a stable, financeable cash flow base from which to grow. We are already working on our strategy to integrate Enerci into our activities in the region with a view to realising maximum benefit and I look forward to updating shareholders further on our plans in due course".

 
 Gasol plc 
  Alan Buxton, Chief Operating Officer                        +44 (0) 20 7290 3300 
 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Broker) 
  Dominic Morley (Corporate Finance) 
  Callum Stewart (Corporate Finance) 
  Adam Pollock (Corporate Broking)                            +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 
 BMO Capital Markets Limited (Exclusive Financial Advisor) 
  Vicary Gibbs                                                +44 (0) 20 7236 1010 
  Tom Rider 
 
  Deutsche Bank Communications 
  Michael Lermer                                               +971 (0) 44283 860 
 Yellow Jersey PR Limited 
  Dominic Barretto 
  Kelsey Traynor                                              +44 (0) 7768 537 739 
 
 

About Gasol plc

Gasol plc is an AIM listed energy development company focusing on gas constrained nations. Power stations in West Africa currently operate predominantly on liquid fuels such as diesel, light crude and jet fuel, but many of these plants are also capable of using gas. Gasol will initially supply these customers with gas from regasified Liquefied Natural Gas ("LNG"), which can provide significant cost savings in the order of 20 to 30 per cent. This involves the delivery of LNG to leased Floating Storage and Regasification Facilities which will be positioned in Cotonou harbour, Benin and will supply the regasified LNG into the West African Gas Pipeline. The West African Gas Pipeline is a 678km gas pipeline involving an investment of over US$1 billion, built to transport gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana which has been operational since March 2011, but today operates at significantly less than full capacity. Once there is sufficient regional demand for gas, Gasol aims to develop captive gas reserves in offshore Nigeria and will supply this gas through the West African Gas Pipeline. This pipeline gas will be cheaper and therefore displace the LNG derived gas, resulting in further savings for customers.

As part of a consortium called Electrogas Malta, Gasol has also been awarded a LNG-to-power project by Malta's state power utility Enemalta, as the country aims to lower its energy costs. Electrogas Malta is a consortium made up of Gasol, SOCAR Trading SA, GEM Holdings Ltd and Siemens Project Ventures, the equity financial arm of Siemens Financial Services.

Gasol's shares have been listed on London Stock Exchange's AIM since 2005 with the ticker code "GAS". Further information on the Company is available at www.gasolplc.com.

BMO Capital Markets Limited ("BMO Capital Markets"), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively for Gasol and no-one else in connection with the Acquisition. BMO Capital Markets will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Acquisition and will not be responsible to anyone other than Gasol for providing the protections afforded to its clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the Acquisition, the contents of this announcement or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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