SYDNEY, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The board of Australian oil and gas producer Santos has agreed to a takeover by a consortium led by Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company (ADNOC).
The board of Santos said on Monday it intends to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the takeover bid from the consortium led by XRG P.J.S.C., a subsidiary of ADNOC, and including the Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADQ) and U.S. private equity firm Carlyle.
The group, known as the XRG Consortium, has made a non-binding indicative proposal worth 8.89 Australian dollars (5.76 U.S. dollars) per share, a 28 percent premium to the company's price at the close of trading on Friday, in a deal that would value Santos at about 30 billion AUD (19.4 billion USD).
It follows two offers made by the consortium in March at 5.04 USD and 5.42 USD per share that were not made public.
"The Santos Board confirms that, subject to reaching agreement on acceptable terms of a binding scheme implementation agreement, it intends to unanimously recommend that Santos Shareholders vote in favour of the potential transaction, in the absence of a superior proposal," the Adelaide, South Australia-headquartered company said in a statement.
The XRG Consortium said that it is negotiating to carry out due diligence with Santos on an exclusive basis before formalizing the offer. ■
