Dana Gas Buys Centurion Energy for $1 Billion (Update3)
By Claudia Maedler
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Dana Gas PJSC, a United Arab Emirates-based energy company, agreed to buy Canada's Centurion Energy International Inc. for C$1.15 billion ($1.02 billion) to add exploration assets in Egypt, Tunisia and West Africa.
Dana Gas will pay C$12 per share, 36 percent above the closing price of the Calgary-based oil and gas exploration and production company on Oct. 30, the day before Centurion said it received an unsolicited takeover offer, Dana Gas announced in an e-mailed statement today.
``We are pleased to have entered into this agreement with Centurion,'' Hamid Dhiya Jafar, executive chairman of Sharjah- based Dana Gas, said in the statement. ``The complementary operations, strategy and approach to business make Centurion particularly valuable to Dana Gas.''
Privately-owned U.A.E. energy companies, with backing from members of the ruling royal families, including RAK Petroleum, Liwa Energy and Aabar Petroleum Investments Co. PJSC, are utilizing record oil revenue to acquire assets across the Middle East and Asia. Aabar completed its acquisition of Singapore-based Pearl Energy Ltd earlier this year.
Oil has plunged 24 percent from the record of $78.40 a barrel reached July 14 amid concern that fighting in Lebanon would spread through the Middle East, source of a third of the world's oil. Crude oil for December delivery fell 2.6 percent, to close at $59.59 a barrel on Friday in New York.
Dana Gas
Dana Gas posted a third-quarter profit of 46 million dirhams ($12.5 million), all from investments. The company earned 52 million dirhams from investments, Dana Gas said in a filing to the U.A.E. Securities and Commodities Authority last month. It reported no operating income.
``There was pressure from shareholders to do something,'' said Abid Riaz, senior analyst at EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, in a telephone interview from Dubai. Riaz has a neutral rating on shares of Dana Gas and a price estimate of 1.75 dirhams.
About 21 percent of the company is owned by United Arab Emirates-based Crescent Petroleum Co., which in April 2001 signed an agreement for Iranian gas that Dana would distribute. Supplies were due to begin in November 2005. Iran said Feb. 14 that it won't export gas to the U.A.E. until Dana agrees to pay higher prices.
``The Iranian contract is still up in the air. It is the cornerstone strategy that Dana Gas went public on,'' EFG- Hermes' Riaz said.
Dana IPO
Dana Gas received bids from 425,000 investors in 100 countries when the company offered $564 million of shares to the public in an October 2005 sale managed by HSBC Holdings Plc.
Shares of Dana Gas have slumped 63 percent so far this year, compared with a drop of 39 percent of the Abu Dhabi Securities Market General Index. Dana's shares were unchanged today at 1.66 dirhams. The company announced the acquisition after the end of trading in Dubai.
Centurion shares are listed in Canada, the U.S., London and Germany, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They closed up 5 percent at C$11.08 in Canada on Friday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Maedler in Dubai at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 12, 2006 08:18 EST |
