Oil and gas producer Santos has announced that it has decided to reject a $7.1 billion takeover offer from the Bermuda-based Scepter Partners.
Scepter Partners is a $14 billion private investment vehicle backed by members of the Brunei and the United Arab Emirates royal families and their region’s sovereign wealth funds.
Headquartered in Bermuda, Scepter Partners has offices in New York, Hong Kong and Beijing.
According to the ASX Announcement, Santos received a $6.88 per share offer which it described as “opportunistic in nature and did not reflect the fair underlying asset value of the company”.
“The Proposal was also subject to numerous conditions, some of which would be adverse to Santos’ continued evaluation of other alternatives in its current strategic review process,” Santos said.
“The Proposal was also subject to numerous conditions, some of which would be adverse to Santos’ continued evaluation of other alternatives in its current strategic review process. Santos has been advised by Scepter that it is a direct investment business whose stakeholders include a standing syndicate of ruling families, ultra-high-net-worth industrialists and sovereign wealth funds.”
After the acquisition announcement, the company’s shares surged over 20%.
Five days ago, Santos shipped the first cargo of liquefied natural gas from its $US18.5 billion GLNG venture.
