DANA takeover bid - KNOC makes preliminary approach.

Just for the record. The offer is now unconditional.  Acceptances and shares owned totalled 64%+

No surprise in that respect....just disappointing overall. But it was always a risk that Dana would get taken out "cheaply" and at the wrong time.......

But they haven't been taken out cheaply!

50% premium sounds about right to me.

I'd settle for the same with Soco, post TGD and Fan success

In reply to jonnyt, post #829

50% premium sounds about right to me.

I'd settle for the same with Soco, post TGD and Fan success

Pick the right moment and 50% premium will always look good - but would you have thought that if someone had offered 50% on top of the sub £4 prices SIA was trading at a few months back?

In reply to jonnyt, post #829

But they haven't been taken out cheaply!

Time will tell. I think they have.....but it doesn't really matter what I think.

50% premium sounds about right to me.

Whether it is "right" or not is entirely dependent on whether one thinks that the starting point was "right" or not (which I don't....and neither did, implicitly, did Goldmans - who in May were forecasting a one-year return of 88%, without the "benefit" of the bid).

I'd settle for the same with Soco, post TGD and Fan success

I've highlighted the key word. Dana might well have been happy to recommend +50% post Anne Marie and Cormoran too.....but, unlike Dana, SOCO should have enough control of their shareholder register to ensure that things don't kick off prematurely!

...anyway....moving on....

In reply to emptyend, post #831

Just to lighten the tone a bit

''TC, our ee grins less'' is nearly an anagram of?

Yes indeed if one took the KNOC approach, there are still some bargains out there and one needn't buy the whole company;-) All the explo amd huge upside is in for free.

In reply to repobear, post #832

Re anagram - I get:
"tongueless criers"
"resources glisten"
"tireless scrounge"
"elites scroungers"
"regrets seclusion"

I doubt any of them are right though.

In reply to peterg, post #830

Pick the right moment and 50% premium will always look good

If you click the 5y button on the SP graph at the top of this page, about £11 or £12 represents the average over the last 5y. IMO it's difficult to argue that was a "cheap" time, or "the wrong time" for shareholders. Seems to me it was close to an average time.

And now the board have recommended the offer.

.....and now we're all out!

http://www.digitallook.com/news/rns/3709571-11594/DNX-Recommendation_of_KNOC_Offer_html

lol - Sterling Resources

In reply to cochin, post #836

I must say that I am in complete agreement with the comments of Goodall and Cross in their reluctant recommendation.  Growing the company from under £1mn to its present size is no mean achievement!....

Colin Goodall, Chairman of Dana commented:

"Dana is an excellent Company which has a bright future and would have continued to grow strongly as an oil and gas independent. However, in light of KNOC's stated intention to de-list the Company, today we are reluctantly recommending that shareholders accept KNOC's offer because we believe that this is now in the best interests of the significant number of Dana shareholders who have supported the Company and not yet accepted. 

Dana started as a private company with funding of less than £1 million. It moved onto the Official List of the London Stock Exchange in 1996 with a market capitalisation of just £24 million and Dana now has a market value of over £1.9 billion. 

This outstanding creation of value is testament to the truly exceptional leadership, intelligence and integrity of Tom Cross, who has driven the Company forward since inception, and the remarkable skills, knowledge and experience of the Dana team. Dana's personnel across the world can be very proud of what they have achieved."

 

Tom Cross, Dana's Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our shareholders, large and small, for their support in building Dana as a public company. Exceptional returns have been delivered to shareholders through the expertise and dedication of our highly committed team of oil industry professionals.

Dana has developed into a very strong and growing E&P business with over 100 interests spanning nine countries, including substantial OECD production and reserves and major exploration upside.

We will work closely with KNOC to ensure all our production, development and exploration projects continue to move forward expeditiously to maximise the economic benefits for all the stakeholders, including KNOC, our industrial partners and the host governments with which we work. KNOC is acquiring a great portfolio of assets with an excellent management team and I believe that the business will continue to flourish under KNOC's ownership."

There is plenty of dignity in having gone down fighting, even if the outcome is not one they would have chosen at this point. It will be interesting to see what happens with Anne Marie and Cormoran.

ee

Comsserations to those who held on....

Dana is a great company, I made a good buck or two from this over the years. Pretty sad to see it go. And a Fantastic achievement by Tom Cross and his team.

Anybody spoken to TC since the takeover, or maybe seen any news ? Presumably he'll stay with the company in the interim to hand over, wonder if KNOC will want to hold onto him & his team longer term?

Nah, he's going to spend his time building up Parkmead into a multi-billion pound oil services company :-)

In reply to thegreatgeraldo, post #840

Anybody spoken to TC since the takeover

As of a week ago I don't think there had been any post recommendation discussions. No doubt it will all take some time to get sorted.

More thoughts from TC:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/profiles/8113069/Dana-Petroleum-chief-Tom-Cross-reflects-on-the-deal-of-the-decade.html

Personally I wonder about someone who's taken in £54m+ less CGT and chooses to carry on working in the oil industry which is not one of the more beautiful ways to spend your time on Planet Earth. Longer-standing bulletin boarders know I've followed a different path in my life - I hope I know when enough is enough.

I missed that TC "doubled my holding in Dana over the last year at between £9-£11". Was that well known hereabouts?

In reply to sirlurkalot, post #843

I hope I know when enough is enough

Me too.

On the other hand, some people just aren't built that way, not because '£54m is not enough, but because having got enough a while back, they aren't working to get any more: they are doing it for kicks and money is just a way of 'keeping score'. 

You must have met a few in your past life. They are doing what they like best in life, so no reason to feel sorry for them. But perhaps feel sorry for their partners and children.

db

The story referenced by SirL contains significant errors

"...She invested £400 in 1995 and was getting a cheque for £720,000...."

The maths is based on the erroneous proposition that the disabled pensioner paid 1p/share in 1995 and eventually sold for £18/share - a gain of 1800x

The first problem with the story is that there was a 15:1 consolidation between 1995 and 2010. So the pensioner's 40,000 shares at 1p were converted into just 2666 shares at 15p. That means she would have received just under £48,000. This would be a great investment return, but only 1/15 of the £720,000 claimed.

The second problem is that Dana shares did not trade at 1p at any time during 1995. According to Sharescope, the lowest price they traded at during the entire year was 3.8p (after adjusting for the consolidation). So our Irish lady could not possibly have bought her shares for 1p each.

I don't know what was going on during the reported interview but somebody has made two very silly mistakes here.

I bought my own first shares* in Dana around 1996~7 a few years after Mrs O'Really and have been a shareholder almost continuously ever since - indeed for long periods I had 60% of my portfolio invested in Dana. As you might expect I am more than a little pleased with the overall return, so I'm not finding fault, but I think it is good to keep our facts straight and our feet on the ground. My own overall return, augmented by 2 or 3 exits and subsequent re-entries (which all worked out happily), is in the region of a 25 bagger. That's more than enough to make me happy without embellishing the story with exaggerated claims of an 1800 bagger.



*According to memory I paid 8p/share for my first purchase - allowing for the 15:1 consolidation that equates to 120p/share.

In reply to sirlurkalot, post #843

I missed that TC "doubled my holding in Dana over the last year at between £9-£11". Was that well known hereabouts?

Yes - more or less. I certainly knew he'd bought some chunky blocks and exercised options. Not sure whether that was technically a doubling (and it probably wasn't a doubling of his exposure) but it was material.

Missed that question whilst away on hols. 

I also agree with tournesol's correction.

OT - but it looks as if the high for PMG was put in yesterday...... can't see another leg up being likely.

re db's lifestyle point, I'm in the SirL camp - having decided enough was enough (though perhaps not still quite sure whether it will be).  From what little there is in the public media about TC's lifestyle, though, I wouldn't assume there is any need at all to feel sorry for partner/children......quite the reverse, AFAICT.

The point about TC is that, by any measure, he is highly "driven". I know several other people with similar amounts in the bank who still keep working - they work because they love it.....and because they "need" to keep doing it - even if not for financial reasons.

Just a historical note on the takeover, from today's FT:

In its latest accounts, Dana is set to report a 30 per cent increase in production last year, from just under 40,000 barrels a day in 2010. Revenues are expected to be up by about 50 per cent on 2010’s £598m, boosted by sustained high oil prices during its last year of independent ownership......

The company continued to operate autonomously from its owners, maintaining its own lending facilities and holding a “war chest” of $900m for acquisitions and investments in ventures where it could act on its own account or alongside KNOC and sister companies

 

You may recall my expectation that Dana would be used as an EMEA hub by KNOC....

ee