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Exactly Heardy, that’s why these foreign companies love the Uk.
Little or no state interference and no recourse when breaking rules.
And the FCA will let them off.
They said it was a "clerical error" not to declare . Hmmm, pull the other one !
The dates don't add up, they built the short up long before announcement of zama and alleged meeting with pmo re acquisitions. The article is speculative on dates and details. They fkd up, and with someone else's money.
Added to that, where is the response from the FCA to their short? Unless I’ve missed it.
It’s like me breaking the speed limit and saying “sorry officer I forgot to look at speedometer”.
The rules have been broken, end of.
A heavy fine now would send a strong signal to the market and pile more pressure on Arcm.
They’re targeting anyone that will listen!
Most PMO investors on this board are pretty well informed, so can see through the ARCM flakey arguments. Given that well in excess of 75% bond holders want to refinance, I’m not sure who ARMC are targeting with this Telegraph Article ?
Apols.... "Transformational" not transnational
Lets face it, all of the other creditors know this is good deal which is why they have all signed up for it and they also know what ARCM are up to, ie no good but themselves , to everyone esle's detriment.The market also likes it which is why the PMO sp has held up so well despite poo dropping. TD can do nothing about the poo, but he is building a world class E&P Oil business and addressing the debt issue brilliantly. Utilising the tax losses of £4bn by swapping UK revenues for Mexican revenues , is a master stroke. This deal is transnational which everyone bar ARMC knows it is, which is why they are against it. Vote YES
Indeed, support them pull it. What's baffling is why would ARCM worry their heads about decommissioning costs way off in the future when refinancing would have them out of the pmo debt. They are full of sxxt, the arguments they put up just don't hold water.
Premier objectives are
1) increase cash flow backdated to include asset revenues in 2019
2) avail of 4billion tax loss credit
3) acquire hydrocarbons for development
4) reduce debt ratio over time
5) additional near term low cost development targets
The only point ARCM have that is valid is front date prices. But who amongst us is not concerned about the HC industry.
ARCM are worried about their hefty short, and that's the sum of their concern. Read an article today about the demise of HF,s. I think they have more than their PMO position to worry about.
(3/3)
The big short motivates the fund to drive down Premier’s shares, critics argue. A sell-off of global claims in the likes of Indonesia, Alaska and the Falkland Islands could then be forced through, funding the immediate repayment of loans – debts that ARCM picked up for as little as 50 cents in the dollar, they add.
Conspiracy theories abound over ARCM’s failure to reveal its big short until December. It crossed the threshold to notify financial regulators in February, and has not touched its big short since last July.
Sources close to ARCM insist this is merely a hedge. And one that is there to protect it against the collapse of a proposed sale of its share in lucrative Mexican oilfield Zama.
Analysts value Premier’s share of the asset – described as Mexico’s most important oil discovery in a generation – at between $300m and $400m, but legal wrangling over the field’s ownership has barred Premier from a much-needed fire sale of Zama.
Last week, Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex laid claim to the field which Premier part owns, complicating the sale process which it initiated in 2019. Premier has said that appetite for its stake in the high grade field has been strong. The arbitration process between Pemex and the field’s consortium of owners should be completed by the second quarter, sources indicate.
The failure to disclose its £130m bet against Premier is nothing more than a clerical error, those close to ARCM say. But it could be a costly one. Lending insiders treat the big short with suspicion and cite it as the main reason to side with Durrant.
Premier appears to have sufficient support to ram through a restructuring of its finances, one that will give it two more years to repay its debts. A vote, expected to be a formality, will take place later this week.
But owed more than $450m, the Hong Kong investor is far from beaten. It has filed a High Court challenge to block both the restructuring and Premier’s plans to splash out on the North Sea oil claims.
The plot will have plenty more twists as the hedge fund ramps up the pressure to be repaid in full: not a penny more, not a penny less.
(2/2) The hedge fund has since spelt out its concerns as part of a campaign against Premier Oil. It is demanding answers from Durrant – not least on what ARCM considers overly bullish expectations on future oil and gas prices. So-called decommissioning costs, the bill to clear up any mess it makes in the North Sea could run into hundreds of millions and are being underestimated, it claims.
ARCM’s conclusions contradict those of almost every other lender. They are also at odds with a weighty analysis of Premier Oil’s North Sea proposals by accountancy firm PwC and many City stockbrokers.
“Acquiring additional North Sea production assets has long been part of Premier’s strategy,” says Barclays oil analyst James Hosie, “with a key requirement for any deal being that it would improve the company’s balance sheet position.”
The future oil and gas price assumptions, which ARCM have taken issue with, were actually provided by the sellers of the assets, Hosie adds.
“I expect Premier’s prospectus to provide more detail on the assets being acquired, helping to establish the value of the assets to Premier and replacing the third party valuations it published with the initial announcement.”
Durrant’s supporters outnumber ARCM. Many of them suspect a different agenda, one that is linked to ARCM’s mammoth £130m bet against Premier’s shares.
Premier Oil boss Tony Durrant had received some bad news. After two-and-a-half years battling to get the company’s finances back in order, a sense of foreboding returned to its Belgravia headquarters,Alp Ercil, the founder of Asia Research and Capital Management, had just explained why he would not support a deal Durrant believed was the key finally sorting out Premier Oil’s debts. The former Lehman Brothers banker wanted to pay BP more than $600m (£460m) on a collection of North Sea oilfields. Ercil’s $4bn Hong Kong-based hedge fund, a major lender to Premier Oil, didn’t like the idea. It came as a hammer blow.Yet at the time Durrant had little sense of the scale and complexity of his opponent’s moves against him. Within weeks, ARCM had disclosed the biggest-ever bet against a British listed company. Premier Oil, it emerged, was the target of a very big short.The seeds of the company’s predicament were sown almost three years ago. Hauling Premier Oil away from the precipice, Durrant struck a deal with banks, hedge funds and insurance firms owed almost $3bn.“We can get on with the business of running the company,” he said at the time, as creditors gave Premier Oil until 2021 to repay their loans.The problem, insiders point out, was that every part of “doing business” required approval from lenders. Premier Oil had signed up a so-called “override agreement” to get the rescue over the line. If Premier’s strategy was too risky, creditors could just say no.Despite this, Durrant made significant headway in the months and years that followed. Paying down hundreds of millions in debt, the company’s shares made modest gains. Its corporate bonds, which had been trading at heavily distressed prices, regained almost all of their lost ground.Durrant’s North Sea bid, which came months after a failed attempt to snaffle other unwanted claims in the region owned by Chevron, was pitched to lenders on Oct 25 last year. At first glance, BP’s oilfields were a compelling opportunity, sources say. Aside from throwing off plenty of cash, profits would be effectively tax-free, on account of $4bn of tax losses Premier had built up over the years.“The presentation looked fantastic,” was the initial reaction of one creditor.ARCM agreed, insiders say. And in the days that followed the hedge fund led a campaign to convince its fellow creditors to lend their support. Such was its enthusiasm, it wanted to inject up to a further $150m in a share placing to fuel the strategy.Within a week, however, the enthusiasm turned into disapproval. Having sifted through the finer details of the acquisition, the numbers didn’t stack up, ARCM and its advisers concluded.“Everything we thought about the transaction had changed,” says one ARCM insider.The hedge fund has since spelt out its concerns as part of a campaign against Premier Oil. It is demanding answers from Durrant – not least on what ARCM considers overly bulli