Wednesday 16 October 2013

Sona Petroleum, speculation about a possible acquisition? (2)

I wrote before about speculation regarding a possible acquisition by Sona Petroleum. I on purpose highlighted all the speculative elements in the article, in the "Moolah" style: "a source", "could be", "details are scant".

As "wammo" highlighted, an article in The Star indicates that the acquisition will not go through:


"Contrary to earlier speculation, special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Sona Petroleum Bhd will not be taking up any stake in Singapore-listed RH Petrogas Ltd, sources said.

RH Petrogas is an oil and gas (O&G) company controlled by Sarawak tycoon Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King.

The sources said that Tiong, whose flagship company is the unlisted Rimbunan Hijau Group, was not too keen on diluting his interest in RH Petrogas.

“Sona is now in the midst of evaluating other assets. It has moved on from RH Petrogas,” they said.

Market speculation had been rife that Sona could be buying a stake in RH Petrogas via both a placement of shares, as well as acquiring some of its assets, mainly offshore O&G blocks.

Earlier reports had indicated that Sona was close to taking up a 10% share placement in RH Petrogas. This had sent RH Petrogas’ shares to new highs, doubling in the last month alone.

The counter rose from 51.5 Singapore cents (RM1.28) on Sept 16 to a peak of 92 cents on Oct 10, before sinking to 81 cents at Monday’s close.

Meanwhile, Sona has not seen much movement. The mother shares closed unchanged on Monday at 44 sen, while its warrants ended 0.5 sen lower at 27.5 sen."


Much too much speculation these days, if one would ask me.

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