Competing bid?

Dart Energy may have accepted a $211.5 million scrip offer from United Kingdom-listed IGas Energy last month, but market watchers are tipping there is another leg to this story. The UK company has secured the support of investors representing 30.5 per cent of Dart, including 16.3 per cent founding shareholder New Hope Corporation, which forced a much-needed board spill at Dart late last year. But in recent weeks, investment bank UBS has bought about 45 million shares on-market in Dart – just under 5 per cent of the coal seam gas company. While the shares purchases could be on behalf of hedge funds, it should be noted IGas Energy’s agreement to acquire a 30.5 per cent stake in Dart came just weeks before the launch of another major licensing round across UK shale gas territories. With higher prices expected this time, demand has increased for companies with existing exposure. “The combination of IGas and Dart will create a market-leading onshore UK oil and gas company with the largest area in the UK under licence of over 1 million net acres, including major UK shale basins,” the companies said in a joint statement when the deal was announced. While Dart has a farm-out agreement with French oil giant Total in the Gainsborough Trough geological basin in Lincolnshire, a competing bid is more likely to come from a UK-based power company or oil and gas player such as London-listed Scottish & Southern Energy. Interestingly, SSE has been tipped as a potential offtake partner for Dart in Scotland.