Harbour Energy seeks to acquire Santos with $13.5bn takeover bid

Harbour Energy has offered to acquire Australian oil and gas producer Santos for A$13.5bn ($10.3bn), calculating at around A$6.50 a share.

This indicative offer includes a premium of 28%, a cash offer price of $4.70 per share and a special dividend of $0.28 per share.

The proposal also allows each individual shareholder to hold a fixed offer price for the first 10,000 shares according to the exchange rate at the time of binding documentation.

A Santos board committee has been formed to discuss the offer comprising the chairman, the managing director and the chair of each of the board standing committees.

The board seems to be interested to engage shareholders further with Harbour, but Santos shareholders have been advised by the directors not to take any action regarding the proposal at this time.

Harbour has entered a confidentiality agreement with Santos allowing it to confirmatory due diligence.

Irrespective of the outcome, the board and management have planned to stay focused on delivering shareholder value through the transformation of Santos into a low-cost, reliable and high-performance business with strong growth potential.