Small South African oil firm Energy Africa said on Friday a hostile takeover bid by Malaysia’s Petronas had failed after an insufficient number of minority shareholders accepted the offer.
State-owned Petronas needed 90% of minority shareholders in Energy Africa to accept the R1,6- billion rand offer to take over the company in full.
From the outset, the board rejected the offer — at R45 a share — as too low, although it said earlier this month it believed holding shares in the company represented a bigger risk than accepting the offer or selling the shares.
However, it said it could still not recommend the offer.
Energy Africa was trading at R43,75 on Friday, down 0,6% in a firmer broad market.
Majority shareholder Petronas — with a 65% stake — had only received offer acceptances for 0,1% of Energy’s Africa’s issued share capital, the South African firm said.
”Since Petronas did not obtain acceptances for 90% of the shares subject to the offer, it will not be able to acquire compulsorily those shares which it does not already own,” Energy Africa said in a statement.
A mystery buyer has acquired around 11,6% of the company since the bid was made in September — enough to scupper the deal. – Reuters