ENOC ’s acquisition of Dragon Oil proceeds

Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) has succeeded in its quest to take control of Irish exploration company Dragon Oil, with the company announcing on Wednesday that it has received sufficeint acceptances of its £4bn (€5.7bn) offer to compulsorily acquire any remaining Dragon Oil shares.

Enoc, the Dubai-based company, said it had received valid acceptances of 41.9 per cent of shareholders for its offer of 800 pence a share. Before the offer Enoc was the largest investor in Dragon Oil, controlling some 54 per cent of shares.

Dragon Oil will delist from the Dublin and London stock exchanges on September 7th, with the last day of trading September 4th.

Enoc said that Dragon Oil shareholders who do not accept the offer will have their shares compulsorily acquired.

Enoc had offered to buy the 46 per cent of Dragon Oil it didn’t previously own for 750 pence a share, or £1.7 billion on June 15th. It had originally offered 735p a share in May.