Oil Search shareholders vote for Santos merger

 

Oil Search Ltd shareholders have voted in favour of the proposed merger with Santos Ltd, Adelaide, which is expected to create a new A$23 billion  international oil and gas producer with assets in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Alaska.

 

Oil Search said 95.43% of the proxy votes cast supported the merger.

 

The move was preceded on the 6th December by an approval letter from the Securities Commission of Papua New Guinea for the vote to move forward.

 

The merger was first announced on the 10th September in which Santos offered 0.625 of its shares for every Oil Search share.

 

On implementation of the scheme existing Oil Search shareholders will own 38.5% of the merged entity while existing Santos shareholders will own 61.5%.

 

Conditions remain, including final approval in a second PNG Court hearing on the 9th December.

 

If the court gives its approval, Oil Search shares will trade for the last time on the 10th December and trading of new Santos shares will begin on the 13th December on a deferred settlement basis.

 

Oil Search will then become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santos and be delisted from both the Australian and Papua New Guinea stock exchanges.

 

The effective implementation date for the merger will be the 17th December, and the new Santos shares will begin trading on the 20th December on an ordinary settlement basis.

 

Source: Oil & Gas Journal