Jadestone committed to closing Maari deal with OMV despite delays

Singapore’s Jadestone Energy remains committed to closing the acquisition of OMV’s stake in the Maari field, located offshore New Zealand, despite delays, including the recent extension of the long stop date for the transaction.

Jadestone entered into an agreement with OMV for the acquisition of a 69 per cent operated working interest in the Maari asset back in November 2019.

The FPSO Raora is operating on the Maari field located in the South Taranaki Bight, approximately 80 km off the coast of Taranaki New Zealand. Production from the field began in February 2009.

The acquisition was supposed to be completed in 2020. However, in September 2020, Jadestone and OMV amended the long-stop date for the acquisition of the Maari field stake from 15 November 2020 to 31 January 2021.

In an update on Monday, Jadestone said it remains committed to its acquisition of the working interest in the Maari asset.

According to the company, the transaction has achieved several key milestones with regard to regulatory approvals and it continues to focus on securing ministerial consent.

“Both Jadestone and the seller remain highly supportive of this transaction and have agreed to a further extension of the long stop date for the transaction to 30 June 2021”, Jadestone said.

Despite the longer period to closing the deal, the effective date remains 1 January 2019, meaning Jadestone will ultimately receive all economic benefits of the Maari interest from that date.

Jadestone has also made progress with its corporate reorganisation efforts.

Namely, the company at the beginning of February 2021 started its corporate reorganisation whereby its British Columbia incorporated parent company would be substituted for an England and Wales incorporated entity.

As explained by Jadestone, the reorganisation is expected to reduce regulatory compliance burdens, resulting in estimated annual cost savings of between $0.5 million and $1 million, when taken in connection with savings from last year’s delisting from Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange.

In addition, Jadestone’s board believes the reorganisation will further raise the company’s profile and status amongst the UK and European investors who are unable to invest in non-UK domiciled companies.

The company intends to enter into an arrangement agreement and to seek shareholder approval for the proposed reorganisation at a special meeting of shareholders.

Jadestone on Monday scheduled the meeting to be held on 20 April 2021.

The process is targeted for completion in the first half of 2021.