DNO International To Sell Up To 6 Million Shares In Detnor To Aker
October 13 2009 - 3:31AM
Dow Jones News
Oil company DNO International ASA (DNO.OS) Tuesday said it plans
to sell up to six million of its shares in Det Norske Oljeselskap
to Aker ASA at NOK49.90 a share to raise cash for general corporate
and international operations.
One million Detnor shares will be sold immediately on an
unconditional basis to Aker, leaving DNO 21.92% of the Norwegian
exploration company. Five million further shares will be sold
subject to approval from relevant competition authorities, reducing
DNO's Detnor stake to 14.22%.
Detnor was split off from DNO in 2007 with the aim of making it
the second-biggest listed exploration and production company in
Norway after incumbent StatoilHydro ASA (STO). Approval for a
merger between Detnor and oil company Aker Exploration is
pending.
"Aker's purchase of shares in Detnor today will strengthen
Detnor further...DNO will continue to support Detnor and its
strategy for further exploration and development on the NCS," DNO
said in a statement.
In recent weeks, DNO has been battling for its core oil assets
in Kurdistan after a row blew up between it, the Oslo Stock
Exchange and the Kurdish Regional Government, or KRG, resulting in
a short suspension of its operations and exports from the region in
Iraq.
It has since been reinstated as operator, but won't export oil
from the Tawke field, instead trucking volumes to local markets.
Exports by international companies in Kurdistan to international
markets since June have not been compensated with revenue from
Iraq's central government, meaning DNO's cashflow situation has
been weakened.
The Detnor share sale will help it continue investment in the
Kurdish region until a solution is reached between the KRG and
Baghdad over distribution of resources and revenues in the
country.
DNO closed Monday at NOK4.52, representing around a kroner
recovery from the low reached in late September after KRG suspended
its Kurdish operations.
Web site: www.dno.no
-By Elizabeth Adams, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 20 7842 9386;
elizabeth.adams@dowjones.com