China snares 4.4bn Addax
CHINESE state-owned Sinopec agreed a takeover of London-listed oil producer Addax yesterday, in a deal worth C$8.3bn (£4.4bn).
The offer of C$52.80 a share – which comes after a behind-the-scenes bidding war with Korea National Oil – is a 16 per cent premium to Addax’s closing share price on Tuesday and more than four times the stock’s November low of C$12.13.
Addax, which is dual listed in London and Toronto but based in Switzerland, has grown quickly since being formed 15 years ago by Chief Executive Jean Claude Gandur.
It averaged production of 136,500 barrels a day last year from 537m barrels of reserves in onshore and offshore fields in West Africa and Iraq’s Kurdistan region, including the promising Taq Taq field.
If the deal goes through, Addax will see its Toronto and London listings cancelled.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of moves into Kurdistan, which the US geological survey estimates to have over 40bn barrels of oil untapped, as a political dispute between the autonomous region and Iraq’s central government cools.
Addax’s Geneva-based chief executive Jean-Claude Gandur said: “The efforts and accomplishments that Addax Petroleum has achieved thus far will be built on through increased investment in the business.” Gandur has a stake in Addax worth C$296m.
Sinopec’s acquisition is understood to be China’s largest ever overseas investment in the oil and gas sector. It comes as Chinese companies seek to buy into oil, gas and mining companies in Africa and the Middle East.
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS
ADVISERS TO ADDAX
Bruce Roth is deputy chairman at RBC, and joined the company in 1991 as co-head of the Communications and Technology group.
Understood to be advising on the Addax Sinopec deal, he is a chartered accountant, and has an MBA from from the University of Western Ontario.
In 1999, he moved to New York to manage RBC’s US corporate and investment banking division.
In 2000, Rothney was appointed head of global origination and became a member of both the operating and executive committees of the firm.
Following the merger with Dain Rauscher Wessels and Tucker Anthony Sutro, Rothney was appointed head of investment banking for RBC Capital Markets.
He is a member of the board of directors of North York General Hospital.
Roth and RBC were underwriters for a deal with private Canadian broadcaster Craig Media, when it received $110m in a private investment from Providence Equity Partners and $35m in new credit from RBC.