Hi allHad a chat with the man himself David Willaims today and...

Hi all

Had a chat with the man himself David Willaims today and have to say that I was buoyed by what he had to say.

Essentially when this company is merged it will be debt free with cashflow and cash in the bank.

DLS debt will be retired as a result of the rights issue. This was considered necessary and in the best interest of DLS as the debt was unfavourable and moreover was imposed by Santos who compelled the JV partners to cough up their share of drilling costs on one of the tenements. It also happen well before GOG was involved and was a condition of the merger.

As far as ODN and BLU go notwithstanding what was said on BRR DW said yes there were talks but if it was a serious thing then ODN would have put out something officially by now. He is not sure why Bajada said these things. So don't believe everything that you've heard form others about this merger. There is a possibility of a better offer and GOG have the ability to pull out of things if it all goes pear shaped

According to DW BPT are on board with this idea as is the second major shareholder but they have not formalised their support.

The board will be rationalised two members will leave as part of the Meridian debt retirement others will leave naturally. A board of about 6 is envisaged. There may be some jockeying for position but there is an awareness that this may make things a little unstable.

The newly merged company should hit the ground running and nothing has been effected as far as drilling schedules go because of the merger.

There was plenty of interest in the Gippsland Basin tenement with many approaches being made at the last conference in Perth I think.

There will also be continuing development work on DLS's current wells.

Consolidation is a possibility but unlikely in the early stages in any event it will not happen unless there is a major event. He was aware of the effects of a consolidation.

All in all very encouraging and everything he said made a lot of sense.

The larger entity will be a much more attractive proposition and should see the company grow. This type of thing (M&A) will be a common feature in the tears to come some smaller companies will not survive.

Anyhow that's about everything. I found DW easy to talk to and thorough in the answers he gave me. We spoke for about 30 minutes.

I would suggest that anyone wanting to find out the facts to pick up the phone and call these guys at minimum speak to the Co Secretary and if you can the CEO/Managing Director.

I'll leave this with you to digest. Some have been critical But I would posture that this is exactly the sort of thing a company must do to get ahead and at least management have recognised it earlier rather than when it's too late.

Cheers
BW