The Dubai government has bought a 46 per cent shareholding in Dragon Oil, the Irish-registered oil and gas production company, for £24 million sterling (£27 million) equivalent to 15p sterling per share. The move has sparked a mandatory bid for the outstanding shares.
However, the offer price is well below the market price which rose 2p to a mid-price of 20.5p sterling yesterday and will have little chance of being accepted.
Dr Oliver Waldron, joint deputy chairman and chief executive, told The Irish Times that Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), the company used by the government of Dubai to make the acquisition, was "very happy to keep the share quotation". The 46 per cent shareholding has been sold by Satellite Overseas, a private company, controlled by Mr Arifin Panigoro, a former Dragon chairman. He has taken a substantial loss on the transaction.
Dragon's main interest is a 50 per cent stake in a joint venture on Block 11, offshore Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea with estimated reserves of 220 million barrels of oil.
