(Alliance News) - Amerisur Resources PLC on Friday said it has started a review of the company, including a potential sale, with some interest already received.
Shares were 11% higher on Friday morning in London at 13.38 pence each, giving Amerisur a market capitalisation of GBP170.2 million. It once was worth more than four times that. Back in 2014, the stock traded as as high as 64.50p.
Amerisur said the review has been initiated after interest in the company and its assets from peers, as well as the "high level" of activity in the Colombian oil and gas sector.
"The company confirms that, at the time of this announcement, it has received a non-binding proposal regarding a potential sale of the company and various other indicative proposals regarding the sale of certain assets of the company," said Amerisur.
Amerisur has appointed BMO Capital Markets as its financial adviser, with Stifel Nicolaus Europe Ltd to also work with the company in the process.
Amerisur's main assets are in the Putumayo basin of Colombia, and it also has an oil pipeline into Ecuador. The firm's 12 blocks cover over 1.0 million hectares of land.
In 2018, it produced an average of 5,356 barrels of oil per day, helping it post a 28% year-on-year rise in revenue to USD108.2 million. Pretax profit surged to USD8.4 million from USD350,000, and the company has signalled plans to pay dividends in the future.