It does suggest a similar deal may be on the cards for CTP....

It does suggest a similar deal may be on the cards for CTP. Here’s some recent commentary from Fairfax, with pertinent points as follows:

- Under-pressure oil and gas producer Santos has sold its first asset under new chief executive Kevin Gallagher, striking an $82 million deal with junior Cooper Energy for the divestment of its Victorian gas business.
- Cooper is launching a $62 million capital raising on Monday to help fund the initial cash part of the payment, with the rest due later.
- The assets include a 50 per cent stake in the producing Casino-Henry gas project in the Otway Basin off the coast of Victoria, and a half-share in the Orbost gas processing plant onshore. Also included are a 10 per cent stake in the Minerva gas venture and all of the mostly depleted Patricia Baleen gas field, as well as exploration acreage.
- Mr Gallagher said the sale came as part of the strategy to reduce Santos's cost base. He told investors in August the company was not compelled to sell assets but would look to continue to reshape the portfolio. "This sales is in line with our stated objective to rationalise and shape our asset portfolio in order to become a low cost, reliable and high performance business," he said on Monday.
- Describing the deal as "transformational", Cooper managing director David Maxwell said the acquisition would result in a four-fold boost to the juniors Australian production and a nine-fold increase in proven and probable reserves. More than 85 per cent of Cooper's production will in future be gas sold under lont-term contracts. Cooper is making the acquisition as it aims to reach a final investment decision on its Sole gas project, which is pencilled in for later this year.
- The equity raising will comprise a 1-for-2 entitlement offer priced at 28.5c a share, a 20.8 per cent discount to Cooper Energy's close on Friday. An institutional entitlement offer will take place Monday and Tuesday, to be followed by a retail offer opening on October 31.