Although LOTM points out that they were not able to hit the bottom range of Peter Strachan's valuation for Southern Star, this was done months ago, and Nathan is right in pointing out that there has been a big fall in the oil price over the past few months since. Acreage offload puts wind in Antares sails
OCTOBER 28, 2014 12:00AM
OIL and gas play Antares Energy will pursue the sale of its two remaining assets in Texas after yesterday offloading nearby acreage for almost $150 million.
Antares, which just three months ago fought off a board challenge from its major shareholder, US-based activist investor Lone Star, agreed to sell its Southern Star acreage in Texas to Breitburn Energy Partners for $US57 million ($64.8m) in cash and 4.3 million Breitburn units worth about $US73m at current prices.
Antares CEO James Cruikshank described the transaction at the “best ever” by the company, eclipsing a 2010 deal in which it sold assets to Chesapeake Energy for $US200m. He said the company would immediately turn its attention to the sale of its Northern Star and Big Star projects, both of which sit a short distance north of Southern Star.
The company had already been in talks with two other unidentified parties over the possible sale of the Texas assets or the entire company.
While those specific negotiations have ended as a result of the Breitburn deal, Mr Cruikshank said both parties had shown an interest in Northern Star and Big Star.
The remaining two assets comprise 25,000 net acres (10,117ha) of landholdings, compared to Southern Star’s 3700 net acres.
The remaining projects sit in Texas’ Dawson County, and Mr Cruikshank said he had received four calls in the past week from people in Houston interested in acquiring the pair.
“There are 13 wells around it getting drilled, and this industry is notoriously loose lipped,” he said.
