"Addax Petroleum Corp. (AXC.T), an oil company with operations in West Africa and Iraq, said Wednesday it has accepted a C$8.27 billion ($7.22 billion) cash takeover offer, including debt, from state-controlled Chinese petroleum and chemicals giant Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp.
The deal is a major strategic step forward for Sinopec, giving it control of operations of the large Taq Taq field in Iraqi Kurdistan and highly prospective exploration acreage offshore Nigeria and Gabon.
The price of C$52.80 per share is at a 47% premium to Addax's closing share price on June 5, the day prior to its announcement that it had received a takeover approach. At 1024 GMT, Addax's London-listed shares were up 15.7%, or 372 pence, to 2740p.
Addax has made "a very clever and timely move," said Global Insight's Middle East analyst Samuel Ciszuk. "Addax has cashed in an initial huge risk," just after it has been allowed to export oil from the Kurdish region of Iraq for the first time, he added.
Sinopec, on the other hand, is taking a political risk, Ciszuk said. "The (Baghdad) oil ministry is adamant that companies involved in Kurdistan are blacklisted from the licensing round in Iraq proper," where Sinopec has other interests, he said.
Sinopec's presence will put political weight behind the Kurdistan Regional Government in its talks with the central government over the validity of the KRG's contracts with foreign companies and who pays the cost of developing oil resources there, Ciszuk said.
It complicates matters for Iraqi oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani, who has taken a tough stance on Kurdistan, but may not have the political backing in Baghdad to take on a powerful Chinese company, he added.
Addax's board of directors recommended shareholders accept the offer and senior executives have entered a lockup agreement to sell their 38% holding in the company to Sinopec..."
Kurdistan matkaa kohti itsenäisyyttä?
Aiemmin yhtiöstä:
Bagdad sallii öljyn viennin DNO:n kentältä
Addax Petroleum Q1
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