* Companies to form Norway's 2nd largest listed oil firm
* Aker BP to pay $2.22 bln in cash, issue 272 mln new shares
* Plans to raise dividend
(Adds share prices, output forecast, synergies)
By Terje Solsvik
OSLO, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Norway's Aker BP will
buy the oil and gas business of Sweden's Lundin Energy
, forming the second-largest listed petroleum firm on
the Norwegian continental shelf, the two companies said on
Tuesday.
The cash and stock transaction values the acquired assets at
approximately 125 billion Norwegian crowns ($13.9 billion), they
said.
"The proposed combination has strategic, and value accretive
benefits and the combined company will be characterized by
increased scale, world-class quality, and high returns," Aker BP
and Lundin said in a joint statement.
The shares of Aker BP jumped by 6% by 1537 GMT while those
of Lundin Energy rose 4%.
The transaction will be settled through a cash payment of
$2.22 billion and a share consideration of 271.91 million new
shares issued from Aker BP and distributed to the Lundin Energy
AB shareholders.
"We are now creating the E&P (exploration and production)
company of the future which will offer among the lowest CO2
emissions, the lowest cost, high free cash flow and the most
attractive growth pipeline in the industry," said Aker BP Chief
Executive Karl Johnny Hersvik, who will remain CEO.
The companies could realise synergies of some $200 million
per year in the form of cost cuts and other operational
synergies, Hersvik told a conference call.
Aker BP also announced a 14% increase in its quarterly
dividend to $0.475 per share from January 2022 and aims to
further increase this dividend by a minimum of 5% every year
from 2023 as long as oil prices stay above $40 per barrel.
The combined firm has pumped an estimated 400,000 barrels of
oil equivalent per day (boed) in 2021 and expects to increase
this to 475,000 boed in 2023, the companies said.
Production could dip to a level between 350,000-400,000 boed
by 2026 before rising again to an estimated 525,000 boed in 2028
as more new fields come on stream and with additional upside
potential, they added.
Norway's top oil producer is state-controlled Equinor
which in 2020 pumped on average 1.32 million boed from
the Norwegian continental shelf.
Closing of the Aker-Lundin deal, which depends on regulatory
and shareholder approvals, is expected in the second quarter of
2022.
Aker ASA will own 21.2% of the merged firm, oil
major BP will own 15.9%, while Lundin family company
Nemesia will hold 14.4%.
($1 = 8.9705 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche,
Bernadette Baum, Jane Merriman and David Evans)