Rothschild appointed to defend Santos; sources Santos is...

Rothschild appointed to defend Santos; sources

Santos is believed to have appointed Rothschild as a co-defence adviser alongside Deutsche Bank.
Market sources told Street Talk the appointment was made on Monday.
It comes after Santos interviewed a handful of independent investment banks and advisory firms for the role last week.

Santos moved to shore-up its defence in response to United States-based Harbour Energy, which is circling the Australian oil and gas company.

Investors expect Harbour Energy, which is backed by giant EIG Global Energy Partners, may return in the next few days with a higher buyout proposal than the $4.55 per share version in mid-August, which became public for the first time late last week after a story in The Australian Financial Review.

For Rothschild Australia, the mandate comes only a fortnight after it advised global oil giant Royal Dutch Shell on the sale of its $3.5 billion stake in Australia's Woodside Petroleum.
Interestingly, Rothschild was involved in Santos when the company went through a strategic review in 2015. On that occasion, it advised Japanese investor Mitsui which bought into Santos Kipper field, off the coast of Victoria.