White Nile to resume trading after Sudan oil deal
By Tom Bergin and Steve Slater
LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) – Oil explorer White Nile expects its shares to resume trading on May 23 following a disputed deal in which the former rebel movement of southern Sudan will get half the firm, the British company said on Thursday.
White Nile plans to acquire an oil concession in Block Ba in southern Sudan from Nile Petroleum Corporation, which is owned by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), in return for a 50 percent stake in the company.
Shares in White Nile, whose chairman is former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, soared after its listing on Feb. 10 on rumours it was about to win a large stake in a Sudanese oil field.
But the stock was suspended on Feb. 16 after the London Stock Exchange told White Nile it was unhappy with the level of disclosure the firm had made on the deal.
In response, White Nile has put together a document with full details on the transaction, which it said it was sending to shareholders on Thursday.
White Nile said in a statement that Block Ba “can be reasonably estimated to have potential oil-in-place figures of up to 5 billion barrels”.
The Khartoum government disputes the SPLM’s right to award oil contracts, and French oil firm Total claims it has drilling rights to the land involved in the deal.
The uncertainty over the deal does not seem to have worried investors too much, however.
White Nile said it had received irrevocable undertakings from shareholders representing more than 99 percent of its shares in issue to vote in favour of the transaction.
Following the deal, White Nile will shift its base from the UK to southern Sudan.
A spokesman for While Nile was reluctant on Thursday to release to journalists a copy of the document being sent to shareholders without receiving in return a donation for an unidentified south Sudanese charity, a move that will not help ease concerns about White Nile’s approach to disclosure.
White Nile shares had leapt to 137 pence before the suspension, valuing the company at about 200 million pounds ($368 million), from an introductory price of 10p.
Spread betting firm IG Index said its unofficial market price for White Niles shares was between 68 and 78 pence.