Takeover Target, page-21

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Potential buyers on tapTAP Oil’s directors are under the pump after the company’s largest shareholder proposed a board spill last week.
But amid the hostile positioning, the struggling West Australian junior is drawing the attention of several prospective takeover buyers.
The company has also wheeled in the banking big guns, with UBS’s resources banker, Richard Saywell, understood to have been appointed to conduct a strategic review. Boutique adviser Miro is assisting with asset sales.
But while UBS has no involvement in the machinations around the mooted board spill, Tap is in a race against time with Thai entrepreneur Chatchai Yenbamroong, who owns a 19.9 per cent stake, agitating for an overhaul of the board and likely to schedule a meeting in early May at the latest.
Tap has already said it will consider selling the whole company, and according to sources, there have already been a number of inquiries from Southeast Asian suitors. While many have pointed to Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate, as a possible contender given its takeover of Roc Oil last year, private equity-style investors are also expected to run a ruler over the business.
Blackstone’s new joint venture in this space, Tamarind Energy, led by industry veteran Ian Angell, is looking to construct a high-quality portfolio and may be lured by Tap’s flagship asset, a 30 per cent stake in the Manora oilfield in Thailand.
The company’s relatively small market capitalisation of $71.74 million makes this an investment within their acquisition price target range.
Like many of its peers in the sector, Tap’s share price has come under heavy pressure over the past six months, tumbling from 69c in mid-September to 29c.