Oil and gas producer and explorer Amerisur (AMER) has found itself a buyer in GeoPark (US:GPRK) at 19p per share, a cash offer backed by the board.
GeoPark is a South and Central America-focused independent that already holds several onshore Colombia prospects. The majority owner and operator of Amerisur’s 30 per cent-owned CPO-5 block is already a GeoPark “strategic partner”.
Amerisur put itself up for sale in July, and swiftly rejected a 17p offer from Maurel & Prom, an arm of Indonesian state player Pertamina. Amerisur chief executive John Wardle said the new £242m offer was attractive “particularly when compared to recent public markets acquisitions in the sector”.
So far, shareholders representing 23.8 per cent of the company have given irrevocable undertakings to back the deal. Investors who have held the company for longer than around two years will likely be leaving with loss, although its share price has only climbed above 19p once in that time before the sale process was announced.
The company said the 19.2p offer represented a 59 per cent premium to the closing price before the sales process was announced.
