re: crude all at all time high + cooper basin inve Bank's oil and gas offer for investors
10aug04 INVESTORS wanting to tap into the Cooper Basin oil and gas province have a new opportunity to do so - as long as they can get their head around the concept.
Westpac has created complex new securities called FIELDS, to be used to raise $259 million to part fund the bank's recent purchase of a slice of the Cooper Basin joint venture.
FIELDS, which stands for Floating Interest Energy LinkeD Securities, are being offered at $100 each and will pay an annual interest of at least 11 per cent until November 16 this year. After that the interest rate is a floating rate of 5.25 per cent above the bank bill rate.
The unsecured notes will deliver capital repayments - reducing an owner's principal from $100 to $42 - from 2006 until they mature in 2012, at which time they can be converted to shares.
Westpac Institutional Bank group executive Phil Coffey said the offer capitalised on expected long-term high demand for oil and gas.
"The Cooper Basin is a strategically valuable asset with strong reserves," Mr Coffey said.
Westpac has a 45 per cent stake in Cooper Basin participant Delhi Petroleum, which it bought for $625 million from ExxonMobil earlier this year. Delhi owns about 22 per cent of the Santos-led Cooper Basin joint venture.
Westpac says the FIELDS offer opens on August 24 and closes on September 17, and the securities are expected to list on the ASX on October 6.
