big turnover 87 mill today -- a few more into's ge, page-6

Hardmano,

No idea who the buyer is at this stage - but could it be someone positioning for a takeover?

The following just in from Bloomberg.......



UBS Manages Sale of 6.7 Percent Stake in Oil Search (Update2)

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG managed the sale of 6.7 percent of Oil Search Ltd., Papua New Guinea's biggest oil and gas company, according to the Australian Stock Exchange.

UBS sold 75 million shares at 83 Australian cents apiece, valuing the transaction at A$62.3 million ($41 million). The holding matches a stake held by Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer. The sale was at a 4.6 percent discount to Oil Search's closing price.

``I heard after the market closed that Woodside was looking to sell down its shareholding,'' Peter Botten, Oil Search managing director, said in an interview. Woodside's investor relations manager Mike Lynn did not return calls. UBS declined to comment.

Perth-based Woodside, 34 percent owned by Royal Dutch/Shell Group, first bought stock in Oil Search in 1999, paying A$118 million for about 56 million shares at A$2.10 apiece.

``It would be a clean up of Woodside's portfolio as they focus on developing projects,'' said Helmut Englehard, who helps manage the equivalent of $400 million including mining stocks at Challenger Portfolio Management Ltd.

Woodside is planning more than A$5 billion in capital expenditure in the next five years to almost double annual production to 100 million barrels of oil and gas.

Woodside wrote down the value of its stake by A$106 million last year after Oil Search shares slumped because it didn't proceed with a $3.5 billion gas pipeline linking Papua New Guinea with eastern Australia.

Oil Search stock closed 4.8 percent higher at 87 Australian cents, its highest close in 10 months, after the pipeline project signed a new customer. The stock has gained more than 40 percent in the past two months.

Woodside closed unchanged at A$12.50.

The sale of the Oil Search stake was carried out after the close of trade on the Australian Stock Exchange.


http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=aUvxoTZOsbGQ&refer=australia#