Gasol Plc, (AIM:GAS) announces that all the resolutions regarding the reverse takeover of African LNG Holdings Limited (“African LNG”) proposed at the Extraordinary General Meeting held were passed. As a result African LNG is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gasol plc, Mr Theo Oerlemans, Chairman of African LNG, has become Non-Executive Chairman of Gasol, and Mr Ethelbert Cooper, co-founder of African LNG, joins Dr Rilwanu Lukman as Strategic Advisor to the Board of Gasol.
It is expected that Admission of the Enlarged Group will become effective and dealings in the Enlarged Group’s shares will commence on AIM on 25 June 2008.
African LNG brings a combination of business opportunities at various stages of development, relationships, and an experienced management team in the oil and gas industry and liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) in Africa. Ownership of African LNG will strengthen Gasol’s strategic relationship with Afren plc – under which Afren plc has granted to African LNG an exclusive right of first refusal to acquire its natural gas – formed to develop low cost stranded gas reserves in the Gulf of Guinea.
The combination of Afren plc’s technical upstream capability with African LNG’s gas commercialisation capacity is complementary, strengthening the capacities of both companies. In particular, Afren, African LNG and E.ON Ruhrgas have recently concluded a cooperation agreement to jointly investigate, collect, develop, collect and monetize gas in Nigeria for domestic and export LNG purposes.
Osman Shahenshah, Director of Gasol said: “The completion of this deal significantly enhances the size and opportunities for the Group and we are now well set to continue in developing the company into the premier Africa-focused gas independent. We look forward to an exciting future, delivering value to our shareholders.”
Theo Oerlemans, Gasol’s in-coming Non-Executive Chairman said: “I am honoured to accept the invitation to become Chairman of Gasol as it embarks on its new trajectory following the acquisition of the remaining stake in African LNG. The combined resources of the enlarged Group, its people, projects and relationships, lead me to believe that they represent an excellent springboard from which to achieve our target of becoming the leading independent Africa-focused gas company.”
Also commenting, Soumo Bose, Chief Executive Officer of Gasol said: “Following the transformational acquisition of African LNG, we remain highly confident of the reinforced Board and Management team’s ability to capitalize on the strong global growth in LNG demand and the unique opportunity presented to independents like Gasol.”
(Oil Voice)
