White Nile Circular Expected Late Next Week – Source
By Jackie Range
LONDON, Mar 31, 2005 (Dow Jones) — Oil minnow White Nile (WNL.LN) will issue a document detailing its rights on its South Sudan oil venture late next week, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Shares in the company will begin trading “immediately” after the document is produced, the person added.
This marks another delay in the production of document, which is critical to the development of the fledgling oil company. March 4 the company said it would issue by the end of the month. Before that the company had anticipated informing the market on Feb. 18.
Since then, White Nile has parted with its nominated advisor, Grant Thornton and retained another, Numerica Capital Markets Ltd. A spokesman for Grant Thornton told Dow Jones Newswires that the split arose due to disagreement over the timing the document’s release.
Numerica is currently putting together White Nile’s new admission document.
Shares in White Nile soared 13-fold a few days after its Feb. 10 listing, on speculation the company had negotiated a deal with the Southern Sudan authority.
On Feb. 16, White Nile said it had concluded an agreement with the government of South Sudan to acquire a 60% interest in the 67,500 square kilometer block Ba. French oil giant Total (TOT) previously held this block, and is now asserting it has legal rights to the block. The same day, White Nile’s shares were suspended, pending an announcement.
A spokesman for White Nile declined to comment on the timing of the announcement.