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Another cut and paste fron AFR on 17th


Takeover target Roc Oil has had a string of prospective suitors attached to it, with this column naming a number of suspects. But sources claim the Chinese giant Fosun Group is mulling a bid. Photo: Reuters
Edited by Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Gretchen Friemann
Rarely a week goes by without another name entering the arena for Roc Oil.
The takeover target has had a string of prospective suitors attached to it, with this column naming a number of suspects. But sources claim the Chinese giant Fosun Group is mulling a bid.
Unlike smaller outfits such as Malaysia’s Hibiscus Petroleum, financial firepower would be no problem. According to those familiar with the matter, Fosun, a broadly diversified, privately held conglomerate, would have to pitch an offer at 70¢ per share to scupper a merger with Horizon Oil.
Under the terms of that deal, a contender for Roc has less than a month to mount a takeover approach and it’s questionable whether Fosun will ultimately have the appetite to enter the public domain with all the scrutiny that would entail.
But some in the market remain sympathetic to the view that Roc Oil’s merger with Horizon represents a mediocre outcome for the Sydney-based exploration company.
The transaction will soak up Roc Oil’s spare cash in return for exposure to the often volatile Papua New Guinea market, where Horizon has a number of exploration projects.
Roc Oil’s Chinese oilfields and its production sharing contracts with China National Offshore Oil Corp and PetroChina make the company an attractive target. A sale to a higher bidder is also likely to play well with a fifth of its shareholders who recently lost a battle to amend the oil player’s constitution which would have enabled shareholders to vote on the union with Horizon.
Activist investor Allan Gray controls 20 per cent of Roc Oil, mostly on behalf of a management mandate from superannuation funds.
The Australian Financial Review