Huge numbers are being discussed for Interoil and PNG Oil and...

Huge numbers are being discussed for Interoil and PNG Oil and Gas

From Daily Mail / UK

Eyes on InterOil for next big bid as US takeover boom continues
By Geoff Foster 22:41 GMT, 20 February 2014

“And the next one please. As shell-shocked dealers on both sides of the pond tried to get their heads around Facebook’s staggering £11billion cash and paper bid for instant messaging platform WhatsApp, they heard that the megabillion-pound takeover boom in the US is set to continue, leaving merger and acquisition activity in Europe miles behind.
The next vulnerable company on the block is believed to be InterOil Corporation, a vertically integrated oil and gas company which operates in Papua New Guinea. As its shares gushed 2 per cent to $54, rumours were rife on the Street of Dreams that cash-rich Teck Resources of Canada is lining up a cash offer in the region of $85 a share, valuing IOC north of $4billion.
Teck’s advisor Bank of America Merrill Lynch has apparently already reached agreement with IOC’s major 19.8 per cent shareholder, Chandler Corporation, and has held several meetings with the IOC management about transacting a ‘friendly’ deal. It could come to fruition soon.
Speculation also suggests that Teck could well have some stiff competition in the shape of Royal Dutch Shell, €0.185 dearer at €26.665. Europe’s largest oil company is strongly rumoured to be on the verge of selling its 23 per cent, or £3.95billion, stake in Woodside Petroleum, Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer. It has been on the cards for years since Shell’s joint bid with BHP Billiton for Woodside was abandoned.
Shell has said its Woodside shareholding does not fit its long-term plans and it wants to free up cash for new projects. Should it dispose of its holding, and with £412million in the bank from the sale of its Italian retail business to Kuwait Petroleum, it would have plenty of spare cash to take a pop at IOC.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2564238/MARKET-REPORT-Eyes-InterOil-big-bid-US-takeover-boom-continues.html

IMO, for potential OSH T/O the PNG Gov. stake may be an impediment (national interest).