1st Nov 2013 12:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - Urals Energy PLC Frday said the internal committee it set up to look into a debt repayment agreement document that it recently received has concluded that the document is a forgery.
Last month, the oil company operating in Russia said it believed the document had been issued to influence shareholders over a takeover bid.
Urals said the alleged agreement it was supposed to have entered into in December 2010 with a Cyprus-based company, UEN Cyprus Ltd, would make Urals Energy liable to pay USD41.7 million on December 15.
UEN Cyprus is owned by Vyatcheslav Rovneiko, a former director of Urals Energy who was forced to pay the company USD3.7 million in 2012 after arbitration proceedings to recover a loan agreement.
Urals said it has no reason to believe the document was genuine and therefore did not believe that the company is bound by the terms. The firm also said it had no record of the transaction and that due to inconsistencies in the document, the board concluded that the alleged agreement is a forgery and an attempt by a third party to defraud Urals.
The company has now asked its counsel Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to perform an outside investigation of the nature of the agreement and in particular the circumstances of how the board came to be made aware of it as well as its use by third parties.
Urals said the final results of the investigation and subsequent legal measures against those parties will be reported within the next two weeks.
The company is under attack from its largest shareholders, but has also had a takeover approach.
In September, Urals Energy's two biggest shareholders, Fire East Corp and Alpcot Capital Manangement, launched an attempt to remove all but one of the company's board because they think the company is underperforming. Then last month, the company said it had received an offer of 12.25 pence a share from what it described as a "highly credible purchaser with previous Russian operational oil experience.
Urals has urged shareholders to reject all the motions by the two holders who called a shareholder meeting, warning that it was at risk of a default if one board member is removed. The shareholders are unhappy because Urals called an extraordinary general meeting to consider their proposals for January 27. They called the date an "unreasonable delay".
In an operational update, Urals said drilling at Well #53 in the Petrosakh field in Russia has now been completed and it is currently undergoing preparation for production.
Flow rates for well will be released once they have been established.
In addition, Urals said the planned annual tanker shipment for export from Kolguyev Island is now underway.
Weather permitting loading should be concluded byNovember 10 at which time the company will announce the volume and value of the shipment.
The stock was trading at 9.75 pence Friday morning, up 0.25 pence or 2.6%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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