Premier Oil shareholders vote for merger with Chrysaor

As reported by Reuters, Premier Oil shareholders have voted in favour of a reverse takeover of private equity-backed Chrysaor to create the British North Sea’s biggest oil and gas producer, in which Premier shareholders will hold about 5.5%.

Premier Oil's creditors approved the merger in November last year.

“Shareholder approval for the Transaction has now been received,” said Premier, which will be renamed Harbour Energy but maintain its London listing.

Creditors of Premier, which has net debt of US$1.9 billion, will receive US$1.2 billion in cash under the merger and debt restructuring plan from a new debt facility and existing cash from both groups.

This on average represents a payout of around 61 cents for each dollar owed, the prospectus said. They can also elect to receive further shares representing up to 18% of the new group, or a cash alternative bringing the payout to around 75 cents.

Premier said the creditor vote is expected on 22 February.

“As previously announced, the requisite level of Premier’s creditors have irrevocably undertaken to vote in favour of the restructuring plans,” it said.

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