Santos to acquire Novus' Indonesian and Cooper Basin Assets 8/03/04 By: Andrew Nelson
Santos Limited (STO) announced today that it had entered into an agreement with Sunov Petroleum Pty Ltd to acquire Novus Petroleum's (NVS) Indonesian and Cooper Basin assets. The agreement is conditional on Sunov's offer for Novus being successful. Santos is now set to acquire Novus' 25% interest in the Kakap PSC, Novus' 50% interest in the Brantas PSC, both in Indonesia, and Novus' interests in the Cooper Basin for a total cash consideration, of US$192 million. The sale would be adjusted for an effective date of 1 January 2004 and would include additional consideration linked to reserves upside in the Wunut field, which is capped at US$10 million. Santos' Managing Director, Mr John Ellice-Flint, said the agreement to acquire Novus' Indonesian and Cooper Basin assets represented a continuation of Santos' strategy to grow its Indonesian and Australian gas businesses. Mr Ellice-Flint also said the acquisition, if it proceeds, would be both earnings and cash-flow accretive to Santos. This transaction is one of many asset acquisition opportunities that are regularly brought to us to consider in the course of our business. If Sunov is successful, it will enable us to supplement our portfolio with those parts of the Novus portfolio that suit our objectives and do so in a cooperative manner, he concluded. Shares in Santos lost 3c to $5.90 on Friday's trading. http://www.egoli.com.au/egoli/egoliNewsViewsPage.asp?PageID={21ED9B19-1C6C-4CE3-9E4B-163BB39982B7}
