Dragon Oil shares jump on Dubai fund’s £3.6bn takeover bid price
SHARES in Dubai-based Dragon Oil jumped by 5.43 per cent yesterday, after the Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) announced a cash offer of 735p per share for the 46 per cent of the firm it does not own.
Dragon Oil said it had formed an independent committee of the board to evaluate the bid. Enoc, also Dubai-based, first approached Dragon Oil in March, but did not disclose the bid price. Yesterday’s proposal values Dragon Oil at £3.6bn, and Enoc said it “marks a substantial increase since the opening proposal” put forward earlier in the year.
The offer represents a premium of 44.3 per cent to the 509.5p closing price of Dragon Oil’s shares the day before the first approach was made.
Enoc said the deal is a “key step towards creating an international integrated oil & gas company”. The firm’s boss, Saif Al Falasi, said: “There is great uncertainty in the sector and we believe that Dragon Oil has achieved as much as is possible through its existing upstream strategy.” Stephane Foucaud at FirstEnergy said Enoc had made a “very good offer” for Dragon Oil, and suggested that shareholders should “take some profit” by recommending the deal at yesterday’s proposed price.