TXN has closed a purchase and sale agreement with a USA-based company whereby Texon has sold its holdings in the Olmos reservoir and the overlying Wilcox reservoir in the producing Leighton oilfield and in the surrounding Leighton and Sutton leases. TXN's proceeds from the sale amount to about US$12.4m before tax, which is below our optimistic forecast of US$21m. However, it strengthens TXN’s cash balance, and places it in a stronger position to negotiate the sale of its Eagle Ford Shale acreage should negotiations drag on and further drilling be required - at US$10m per well. The sale does not include: the underlying Eagle Ford horizon; the Pearsall horizon leases; the Mosman-Rockingham leases; or the producing Eagle Ford wells.
Focus will remain on the sale process it is running on its acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale region. Depending on the level of interest, the quality of the acreage and the strategic value to potential bidders, we value its Eagle Ford Shale acreage between A$200m and A$279m (A$0.82/sh to A$1.15/sh). Subsequently, our valuation range for TXN is now A$252m to A$331m (A$1.04/sh to A$1.36/sh). We conservatively set our target price to the lower end of this range, A$1.04 per share, and note that depending on the outcome of the sales process, there maybe upside risk to this.
TXN Price at posting:
63.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
