UK independent Sound Oil announced its intention to make a public offer to buy Antrim Energy Monday for nearly $10 million in an all share transaction.
The deal would offer 0.3198 Sound shares for each share of Calgary-based Antrim.
Each Antrim share would be valued at about 5 cents (3.44p), with the total value of the company’s issued share capital coming in at $9.96 million.
Sound said the deal would provide the merged companies with a cash balance of about $36 million.
A merger would add Antrim’s 25 percent stake in the offshore Ireland Skellig block to Sound’s portfolio.
The proposal also calls for the closure of Antrim’s Calgary office and an “associated headcount reduction.”
Sound submitted an all share offer to Antrim’s board at the end of October but said it has not received a response.
Following a number of financial transactions, the divestment of its producing UK subsidiary and the restructuring of its Calgary based executive team Antrim’s market capitalization fell to under $9.4 million at the end of September.
The acquisition would be part of a larger strategy to build a “pan-European oil and gas business of scale,” Sound Oil said.
“The combination provides a pan European platform to enable further consolidation in the sector whilst delivering a more diverse portfolio, added scale and increased investor appeal,” Sound Oil CEO James Parsons said.
