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LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - Private-equity group
HitecVision's NEO business has renegotiated its deal to buy
British North Sea oilfields from Total, with Omani
partner Petrogas dropping out and the French seller providing
financial help, Hitec said on Wednesday.
The transaction is the second large oil and gas deal to be
revised in the wake of this year's oil price slump after
BP delayed some payments to, and received vendor
financing from, Hilcorp last month.
Typically vendor financing means financial provisions such
as marketing, hedging and working capital arrangements as well
as junior debt. Wednesday's deal is expected to close in the
third quarter.
"The structure of the consideration and phasing of payments
has been modified, including vendor financing," HitecVision,
which has $6 billion under management, said in a statement.
"NEO, HitecVision and Total have renegotiated the financial
terms of the deal to respond to the current environment.
Previous deal partner Petrogas is no longer part of the
transaction," it added, without giving the new price.
The initial price for the sale of the assets, which produce
around 23,000 barrels per day, was $635 million. Under the new
deal, Total will get better terms if oil prices recover sharply.
NEO has also secured a $2 billion underwritten facility from
banks BNP Paribas, DNB and ING, to refinance existing assets,
cover decommissioning liabilities and increase its firepower for
new acquisitions.
HitecVision partnered in 2018 with Eni to build Var
Energi, now one of Norway's largest producers at around 300,000
barrel of oil equivalent per day (boed). It has said it wants
NEO to increase its output to around 100,000 boed.
"The Major Oil companies are either exiting European
Offshore ... or reorganizing their assets," HitecVision Senior
Partner John Knight told Reuters.
"We have the debt and equity finance to continue being the
preferred partner as this trend continues."
HitecVision has so far focused on paying dividends rather
than listing its oil units on stock exchanges.
The Total assets include a stake in the CNOOC
operated Golden Eagle field.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Mark Potter)
