Woodside withdraws bid
The National, Wednesday December 9th, 2015
WOODSIDE Petroleum Ltd has withdrawn its proposed bid for a merger with Oil Search Ltd.
The Australian oil and gas company said in a statement yesterday that it recently provided a proposal to merge Woodside and Oil Search through a scheme of arrangement.
The reported A$11 billion (K 23.4 billion) proposal would see Woodside acquire all Oil Search shares – for a consideration of one Woodside share for every four Oil Search shares held.
The offer however was turned down by Oil Search.
Its board said the offer was “opportunistic and grossly undervalues the company”.
Woodside said yesterday it would not pursue any alternative transactions to combine the businesses.
Oil Search managing director Peter Botten, in noting the withdrawal by Woodside, said Oil Search remained focused on delivering value for its shareholders, by continuing to produce from its low cost assets and to progress the development of its world class growth projects.
Oil Search Ltd owns 29 per cent of the PNG LNG project, and 22.8 per cent of the Papua LNG (liquefied natural gas) project.
The Port Moresby-based company, about 10 per cent owned by the PNG Government, is ExxonMobil’s biggest partner in the US$19 billion (K52.8 billion) PNG liquefied natural gas venture.