Credit Suisse presentation, page-40

Call me insane - but if FAR wanted the 35% and loved the low price @ $430M, why not just buy the 35% at the crazy cheap price for simple cash terms in the notification? Use PE to snap it up cheap and move on with 50% by August 14!

Why a need to see terms on the share sale if they really liked the price? Did they want to encumber themselves with additional liabilities and pay more for the 35% via opex? I think COP chose the share sale route because they knew the Senegal government might take forever for explicit approval of an asset transfer vs a set 60 days deemed approval under change of control. COP wanted cash fast as possible and eliminated the risk of delay. See how fast the previous oil minister delivered on the new oil code, the licence approvals etc.

The JV partners could only PE the asset itself so if FAR believed the price they were offered was way too cheap it makes zero sense to want to see the books unless they really wanted a higher price, the alternative therefore is that they thought it was not cheap enough and they believed they were over-paying @$430M and thought the valuation was excessive. My impression was at the time - no backer, no cash, need delay excuse to sort out backer or finance.

Now in hindsight I think that the Texas gun lawyers may have actually came up with a long term strategy to leverage the transaction to get something out of waiving rights down the track.