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Gold/Mining/Energy : Orbit Oil and Gas (t.orb) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dennis naughler who wrote (127)	11/27/1997 3:56:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 171

Orbit CEO says Sunoma bid too low Thursday November 27, 11:25 am Eastern Time CALGARY, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Orbit Oil & Gas Ltd Chief Executive Robert Lamond said on Thursday he believed a C$73 million hostile bid launched for his company by Sunoma Energy Corp was too low and that the door was open for richer offers. ''It's a good opening bid, but I doubt anyone will accept that. The company's worth a lot more,'' Lamond told Reuters. ''I've had a call every couple of weeks to buy it from interested parties in Canada and the United States and some have called already (on Thursday),'' he said. Private Sunoma said on Thursday it planned to offer C$1.70 in cash for each of Orbit's 43 million shares. Orbit, with current production of 38 million cubic feet of gas and 900 barrels of oil a day, also has about C$11 million in long-term debt. With the Sunoma bid, Lamond, one of Canada's best-known oilmen, finds himself defending against a hostile takeover bid for the second time in two years. In 1995, as head of Orbit sister company Czar Resources Ltd, he went head-to-head with Gulf Canada Resources Ltd's (Toronto:GOU.TO - news) J.P Bryan in a harsh war of words after Gulf mounted a hostile bid. In the end, Lamond coaxed a higher offer from Ranger Oil Ltd (Toronto:RGO.TO - news), which had also tried a hostile bid at first but later went into negotiations with Czar. Lamond said Orbit shareholders, like those of Czar, could also expect the highest value for their shares, which Orbit said in a news release on Wednesday would be valued at about C$2 a share in a healthy stock market, based on expected 1997 cash flow of C$0.34 a share. Sunoma pointed out its offer represented a 47 percent premium to Orbit's closing price of C$1.16 on November 24 and a 23 percent premium to its highest price during the last year. Orbit has C$50 million worth of tax pools, or deductions, C$30 million worth of pipeline space booked on TransCanada PipeLines Ltd's (Toronto:TRP.TO - news) Canadian natural gas mainline and it is also drilling a ''company-maker'' well in Texas, Lamond said. ''This is a really interesting company and that's why people wanted to buy it. And now that someone has started the process, we'll just start off as we did with the Czar deal, maximizing the value to all our shareholders,'' he said. ''Orbit shareholders, in this market, must be the happiest guys around.'' The company suspected it had become a takeover target following a 2.6 million share trade on Tuesday and after hearing rumors in the brokerage industry. It issued a press release on Wednesday outlining its suspicions. Orbit stock climbed 0.36 to 1.65 in early Thursday trade on hefty volume of 2.6 million shares. biz.yahoo.com

To: dennis naughler who wrote (127)	11/27/1997 4:07:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 171

Sunoma CEO says Orbit offer is fair Thursday November 27, 1:01 pm Eastern Time CALGARY, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Sunoma Energy Corp Chief Executive Paul MacDermott said on Thursday he believed his company's C$73 million hostile takeover offer for Orbit Oil & Gas Ltd was fair, despite Orbit's confidence of a higher bid. ''This is not a negotiating process. We worked very hard on this project for quite some time and we think the offer is very fair and reasonable,'' MacDermott told Reuters. ''We're committed to getting it done.'' He declined to say if the C$1.70 a share cash offer announced today was the highest Sunoma would bid for Orbit. Sunoma is a private company owned by MacDermott and several U.S. energy funds organized by Fort Worth, Texas-based Natural Gas Partners Group. Orbit, with operations in western Canada and Texas, has about C$11 million in long-term debt as well as preferred shares. The offer would be conditional on 50.1 percent of Orbit shares, other than the 6.9 percent held by Sunoma, being tendered to the bid. Orbit Chief Executive Robert Lamond, who holds 21 percent of his company's stock directly and indirectly, said on Thursday he believed the Sunoma offer was too low and expressed confidence that a higher bid was in the offing. MacDermott said that ''(Orbit) makes very good strategic and financial sense for our company. It furthers the growth of the company and gives value to the shareholders of Orbit.'' He said the offer represented a large premium to Orbit's share price over the past three years. Orbit, the Toronto Stock Exchange's most active issue today, was up 0.34 to 1.64 on volume of 3.5 million shares. biz.yahoo.com