(Corrects to clarify percentage of senior commitments and to
show creditors have voted in favour of the schemes in paragraph
eight)
Feb 12 (Reuters) - Creditors of Premier Oil gave the
indebted oil and gas producer their approval for $800 million of
North Sea acquisitions under a scheme that would allow it to
delay debt repayments and issue new shares.
The vote supporting Premier's management is a blow to hedge
fund ARCM, which holds 15% of Premier's debt and has had a
growing short position in its shares since 2017, currently
around 17% of its stock, some four times higher than the average
for London-listed firms.
ARCM has fought a heavily publicised battle against
Premier's plans, saying they were based on too-high commodity
price assumptions, too-low decommissioning liability estimates
and would make Premier too dependent on a weak gas market.
An investor with a short position makes a profit on a stock
when its price declines. Premier's shares rose around 20% after
it announced its plans on Jan. 7, but have since lost most of
that ground to trade at 104.5 pence, up 6.4%
year-to-date.
Shares in Premier Oil spiked higher following the
announcement, and by 1317 GMT they were up 3.1% at session
highs.
Premier needs investors representing at least 75% of its
outstanding debt of around $2 billion to agree to its plans
under an arrangement reached with its creditors in a debt
restructuring in 2017.
Wednesday's vote still needs to be formally approved by a
judge in a hearing expected on March 17.
Of the creditors subject to the schemes, 86% of Super Senior
Commitments and 83.86% of Senior Commitments have voted in their
favour at the creditor meetings, Premier said, referring to
different classes of bondholders.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla in London and Shanima A in
Bengaluru; editing by Nick Macfie)
