Gasol plc Pre-emption of the acquisition of Energie de Côte (3790A)

TIDMGAS

RNS Number : 3790A

Gasol plc

19 February 2014

Gasol plc

("Gasol" or the "Company")

Pre-emption of the acquisition of Energie de Côte d'Ivoire S.A.

Gasol announces that, further to the conditional Sale and Purchase Agreement ("SPA") it entered into with GDF SUEZ E&P International S.A. (the "Seller") to acquire a 12 per cent non-operating interest in Block CI-27 through the acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of Energie de Côte d'Ivoire S.A. ("Enerci"), it has been informed on 18 February 2014 that the Seller has received exercising notices in relation to the existing CI-27 Block partners' pre-emption rights. The relevant condition in the SPA cannot therefore be satisfied and, accordingly, the acquisition will not proceed. It is envisaged that the Company's shares will be restored to trading on AIM at 7.30 a.m. on 19 February 2014.

On 23 December 2013 Gasol announced it had entered into a conditional SPA with the Seller to acquire its interest in Block CI-27 in the Cote d'Ivoire. In support of the acquisition Gasol entered into a financing facility provided by Deutsche Bank (as announced on 10 January 2014). On signing the financing facility agreement and in accordance with the terms of the SPA, Gasol paid the Seller a deposit of US$2,000,000. Following the exercise of pre-emption by the existing partners the Seller will, in accordance with the terms of the SPA, return the deposit within five business days. In addition to the return of the deposit and in accordance with the SPA, the Seller is required to pay Gasol a break fee of US$2,000,000. Such fee is payable upon completion of the transfer to the pre-empting parties.

Alan Buxton, Gasol's Chief Operating Officer, said:

"We are obviously disappointed to have been pre-empted on this acquisition but nonetheless feel encouraged that in pursuit of our strategy to develop gas markets in West Africa we were able to identify, assess and bid successfully on what is clearly an attractive asset. We secured financing in a difficult market and ultimately the fact that all existing partners pre-empted demonstrated we had clearly identified a good transaction. We will continue to evaluate opportunities in West Africa, and the Cote d'Ivoire in particular, in an ongoing pursuit of our strategy".

 
 Gasol plc 
  Alan Buxton, Chief Operating Officer                        +44 (0) 20 7290 3300 
 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Broker) 
  Dominic Morley (Corporate Finance) 
  Callum Stewart (Corporate Finance) 
  Adam Pollock (Corporate Broking)                            +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 
 BMO Capital Markets Limited (Exclusive Financial Advisor) 
  Vicary Gibbs                                                +44 (0) 20 7236 1010 
  Tom Rider 
 
  Deutsche Bank Communications 
  Michael Lermer                                               +971 (0) 44283 860 
 Yellow Jersey PR Limited 
  Dominic Barretto 
  Kelsey Traynor                                              +44 (0) 7799 003220

About Gasol plc

Gasol plc is an AIM listed energy development company focusing on gas constrained nations. Power stations in West Africa currently operate predominantly on liquid fuels such as diesel, light crude and jet fuel, but many of these plants are also capable of using gas. Gasol will initially supply these customers with gas from regasified Liquefied Natural Gas ("LNG"), which can provide significant cost savings in the order of 20 to 30 per cent. This involves the delivery of LNG to leased Floating Storage and Regasification Facilities which will be positioned in Cotonou harbour, Benin and will supply the regasified LNG into the West African Gas Pipeline. The West African Gas Pipeline is a 678km gas pipeline involving an investment of over US$1 billion, built to transport gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana which has been operational since March 2011, but today operates at significantly less than full capacity . Once there is sufficient regional demand for gas, Gasol aims to develop captive gas reserves in offshore Nigeria and will supply this gas through the West African Gas Pipeline. This pipeline gas will be cheaper and therefore displace the LNG derived gas, resulting in further savings for customers.

As part of a consortium called Electrogas Malta, Gasol has also been awarded a LNG-to-power project by Malta's state power utility Enemalta, as the country aims to lower its energy costs. Electrogas Malta is a consortium made up of Gasol, SOCAR Trading SA, GEM Holdings Ltd and Siemens Project Ventures, the equity financial arm of Siemens Financial Services.

Gasol's shares have been listed on London Stock Exchange's AIM since 2005 with the ticker code "GAS". Further information on the Company is available at www.gasolplc.com.

BMO Capital Markets Limited ("BMO Capital Markets"), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively for Gasol and no-one else in connection with the Acquisition. BMO Capital Markets will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Acquisition and will not be responsible to anyone other than Gasol for providing the protections afforded to its clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the Acquisition, the contents of this announcement or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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