New Zealand Oil and Gas Ltd. has issued a tough fifth supplement to its hostile takeover attempt on Cue Energy Resources Ltd.
As of the evening of Mar. 26, NZOG had moved to a 45.6% shareholding in Cue. The company has noted that just one significant shareholder in Cue, PetroChina, remains holding more than 5% and NZOG has stated that it will seek significant representation on the Cue board.
NZOG said that seeing that its shareholding will not be materially different from what it would be at 50% of Cue, it will force a strategic review on Cue’s corporate structure, governance, assets, businesses, personnel, and operations to determine if there are areas where Cue’s business can be enhanced.
It also said it will consider whether to delist Cue from the Australian Securities Exchange and it wants half the seats on the board.
Cue retaliated by saying that the threat of delisting appears to be designed to attempt to pressure Cue shareholders into accepting NZOG’s takeover offer, $0.10 (Aus.)/share, by the deadline of Mar. 27.
Any decision to delist would be made by the Cue board and not NZOG, and any such decision would need to be in the best interests of all shareholders. The ASX requires that all shareholders would need to approve the delisting at an extraordinary meeting. NZOG would be unable to vote at such a meeting within the first year.
Cue added that until NZOG holds more than 50% of the Cue shares, it cannot be sure of appointing a majority of the Cue board.
Even at the 11th hour, Cue maintains that NZOG’s takeover offer is opportunistic and undervalues the company’s assets in New Zealand, Indonesia, and Western Australia.
