12th May 2016 08:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - The largest shareholder in troubled Petroceltic International PLC is set to takeover the company following several years of trying to take control of the business after a court-appointed examiner identified it as the best option to save the debt-laden firm.
Worldview and the Petroceltic board have been battling over the past couple of years over the management of Petroceltic, and Worldview's most recent takeover offer was rejected less than one month ago after failing to gain adequate shareholder support.
Worldview, with a 29.6% stake, was the shareholder which applied to place Petroceltic under protection from its creditors after its takeover offer failed. The court then appointed an examiner to the company to carry out a sales and investment process to make the business sustainable.
Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton has now carried out that process, collecting best and final offers, alongside proof of funding, from interested parties, and selected Worldview as the "successful investor".
It was not revealed whether any other offers were made for Petroceltic, and it is unsurprising that Worldview has won the race as Petroceltic had previously said the business was likely to wound up without an offer from Worldview, making a U-turn after several years of trying to defend itself from the shareholder's attempts to oust the board.
Worldview and Petroceltic will now sign an investment agreement "over the coming days", taking full control of Petroceltic and all of its subsidiaries, including the ones that are not included in the examinership process.
Once signed, the examiner will then convene meeting to secure approval on the deal from shareholders and creditors towards the end of this month, and subject to those approvals and court approval, is expecting the examinership process to formally end in early June.
The examiner has the right to terminate the investment process at any time.
The terms of the takeover were not revealed. Worldview's last offer was at 3.0 pence per Petroceltic share, which was an 83% discount to the company's share price at the time. That offer was rejected after gaining support from around 55% of Petroceltic shareholders, way below the 90% requirement.
Petroceltic shares are suspended from trading on AIM.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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