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Petroceltic bids for Melrose Resources
Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic International said it would buy Melrose Resources for £165m to strengthen its operations in North Africa and the Black Sea.
Petroceltic banks on Melrose’s producing assets in Egypt and Bulgaria until its own exploration assets in Algeria start production in four to five years. Melrose held proved plus probable reserves of 84.2m barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2011.
Shareholders in Melrose, which also has operations in Romania, France and Turkey, would receive 17.6 Petroceltic shares for each share they hold, which represents a premium of 6 per cent to Melrose’s closing price yesterday.
Melrose will pay its shareholders a special dividend of 4.7p per share.