Thai gas and oil company, PTT Exploration and Production, has beaten Royal Dutch Shell to capture British-listed Cove Energy.
Cove Energy has been at the centre of a bidding war between the two companies since February this year.
The UK Takeover Panel had ruled that if neither company had declared its final offer by 4pm yesterday, an auction would start today.
However, Shell announced that it would not increase its bid of 220p a share, meaning that PTT’s offer of 240p a share, which values Cove Energy at £1.22bn, stood as the winning bid.
Shell provided no reason for its departure from the bidding war but released a statement confirming it would not be increasing its offer of 220p a share.
Cove Energy has an 8.5% stake in Mozambique’s Rovuma Area 1, which is controlled by US operator Anadarko. The area is considered to be one the world’s richest natural gas discoveries.
By purchasing Cove, PTT are looking to boost imports of liquefied natural gas and expand Thailand’s natural gas resources.
