Oil Search shareholders vote for Santos merger

Oil Search Ltd shareholders have voted in favour of the proposed merger with Santos Ltd, Adelaide, which is expected to create a new A$23 billion  international oil and gas producer with assets in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Alaska.

Oil Search said 95.43% of the proxy votes cast supported the merger.

The move was preceded on the 6^th December by an approval letter from the Securities Commission of Papua New Guinea for the vote to move forward.

The merger was first announced on the 10^th September in which Santos offered 0.625 of its shares for every Oil Search share.

On implementation of the scheme existing Oil Search shareholders will own 38.5% of the merged entity while existing Santos shareholders will own 61.5%.

Conditions remain, including final approval in a second PNG Court hearing on the 9^th December.

If the court gives its approval, Oil Search shares will trade for the last time on the 10^th December and trading of new Santos shares will begin on the 13^th December on a deferred settlement basis.

Oil Search will then become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santos and be delisted from both the Australian and Papua New Guinea stock exchanges.

The effective implementation date for the merger will be the 17^th December, and the new Santos shares will begin trading on the 20^th December on an ordinary settlement basis.

Source: Oil & Gas Journal