MARKET TALK: AED Oil Climbs On News of Interested Parties
0417 GMT [Dow Jones] AED Oil (AED.AU) up 5.1% to A$2.26 after revealing it's had interest from significant number of parties looking at participating in its Puffin project in Timor Sea. AED shares were above A$11 in October last year as they launched oil production but production difficulties have seen the stock retreat. Macquarie carrying out a strategic review and AED says a "significant number" of Australian, overseas players now doing due diligence. Wilson HTM analyst John Young says AED started the process following approaches by parties to farm into the project, but there's a possibility a bid could be made for part or all of the company. Young says a recognized player taking a stake after doing due diligence, would be vote of confidence in project and could help boost the stock. Mid tier oil and gas players could be potential bidders; Nexus (NXS.AU) refused to rule it out when asked recently, while ARC Energy (ARQ.AU) has stated it's keen to carry out acquisitions and has just missed out on a deal with Anzon (AZA.AU). (APW)
