RockRose awaits re-admission to London Stock Exchange

UK independent player RockRose Energy expects re-admission of its ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange to take place on Thursday morning.

RockRose’s shares have been suspended since last September due to an agreement to buy Maersk Oil North Sea UK’s non-operated interests in the onshore Wytch Farm field (7.43%), Scott (5.16%) and Telford (2.36%) offshore fields, which constituted a reverse takeover. The pair sealed the deal in December, keeping the shares suspended.

Meanwhile, the Wytch Farm part of the deal fell through as several partners in the field exercised their pre-emption rights on the asset leaving Maersk and RockRose to work on closing the deal for the two UK North Sea assets.

Last month, OGA confirmed to RockRose that Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd would receive consent from the regulator for the assignment of the interest in license P218, which contains the Scott and Telford fields.

Maersk acquisitions

Following approval from the OGA, the company said on Tuesday it continues to make good progress towards the completion of the acquisition of interests in Maersk Oil North Sea UK’s fields. The consideration for the interests in Scott and Telford consists of a payment from Maersk to the company of £14.5 million plus working capital adjustments. Formal completion is expected in the coming weeks, RockRose added.

Egerton acquisition

As reported in March, the company signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Egerton Energy Ventures. Egerton’s assets are principally non-operated interests in the Galahad (27.80%) and Mordred (8.33%) gas fields located in the Southern North Sea. The consideration for the Egerton acquisition is effectively a receipt by the company of £999,000 over an eighteen month period. This acquisition is subject to receipt of confirmation from the OGA that it has no objection to the change of control of Egerton.

Sojitz acquisition

RockRose previously announced that it had entered into a heads of terms agreement to acquire a subsidiary of a major trading company which holds small non-operated interests in gas fields located in the Southern North Sea and significant tax assets. The company is now able to disclose that the proposed acquisition is for the purchase of the entire issued share capital of Sojitz Energy Project Limited (‘SEP’) from Sojitz Corporation, a Japanese corporate entity and Sojitz Europe plc, an English company, who have together agreed in principal to sell SEP, which includes interests in the Tors (15%), Grove (7.5%) and Seven Seas (10%) Field Units, to the company. In the event that the company decides to proceed with the Sojitz acquisition, which remains subject to OGA approval, it intends to finance the transaction through existing cash resources.

On completion of the acquisitions of the Scott and Telford assets, Egerton, and in the event the company proceeds with the acquisition of SEP, the company estimates current aggregate net production of around 1,400 boepd.

Fundraising 

In addition, the company has conditionally raised £8 million (before expenses) through an issue of 5,333,334 new ordinary shares of 20 pence each at a price per share of 150 pence. The fundraise was effected through the placing of 1,699,594 new ordinary shares and a subscription of 3,633,740 new ordinary shares. The net proceeds of the placing and the subscription will be used to further pursue the company’s acquisition strategy, enhancing its ability to identify, examine and evaluate further opportunities.

Andrew Austin, Executive Chairman, commented: “We have made significant progress delivering our targeted acquisition strategy and today’s fundraise allows us to accelerate this as we continue to pursue and identify complementary, value accretive acquisitions to create a scalable energy business that is able to deliver shareholder returns in a low oil price environment.

“The board would like to thank our existing and new shareholders for their support and patience as it has taken longer than initially anticipated to re-admit due to the complexities of the transaction. We look forward to providing updates on our progress in the weeks and months ahead.”

Offshore Energy Today Staff