Not even a blip on the IRPPF screen, what is going on with that stock Alex? You think it is going to break 3.75 before it makes a real move? What is holding that one down? The fear that Lundin will deploy the little cash reserves they have in Arakis?
Oh latest whipping boy of the AIPN thread... Thought I would respond to your queries on this thread.
As I mentioned to Tomas in an earlier post, the sector in general has been performing poorly - although different reasons account for the undervalued stock prices, the net effect is the same - ABACF, AKSEF, CHK, IRPPF, even some of the more established co's like OIL and BNO have seen their stock prices languish. You have to remember too, that this is a stock that spent most of '93/'94 trading between $1 to $2 per share, and the run to $6 ¬ got the price ahead of itself. Obviously, the merger announcement changes a great deal, although I noticed that the IPC camp in Sweden took the price down 0,10 SEK, while rewarding Sands. Interestingly enough, IPC originally acquired 77% of Sands in June, 1992, then sold its entire stake in 1995. I am awaiting an annual report from Sands to dig deeper into that co. IPC reported cash reserves of $30M as of 6/30/97, don't know what Sands brings to the table.
I would be very surprised if "A.H. Lundin Oil AB" (I think "Swedish Petroleum" has a much better ring to it) made an extended play for Arakis. With a poison pill plan in place (are you familiar with the details of that?), a reluctant 2nd major shareholder, and substantial Capex requirements in Malaysia, it looks too costly to pull off unless they have a few aces up their sleeve. IMHO, it would be much saner to use the combined resources to get that oil flowing in Malaysia (but then I'm just a simple bean counter from California). <g>
Alex |
