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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK Oil & Gas PLC on Thursday continued to raise its interest in Horse Hill Development Ltd by buying out Solo Oil PLC's 15% stake in the company.
UK Oil & Gas will pay a total of GBP4.5 million through the issue of 234.0 million shares in the company to Solo Oil which will then hold a 4.2% stake in UK Oil & Gas.
Solo Oil shares were trading up 9.1% at 2.40p each, while UK Oil & Gas were trading up 0.6% at 2.44p.
Upon completion, UK Oil & Gas will up its stake in Horse Hill to 71.9%, which in turn holds a 65% interest in two onshore UK petroleum exploration licences located in the Weald basin in southern England, PEDL 137 and PEDL 246, which contain the Horse Hill oil discovery.
Earlier this month, UK Oil & Gas took a controlling interest in Horse Hill Developments after buying out the stakes of Gunsynd PLC and Primorus Investments PLC.
The company acquired Gunsynd's 2% stake in the operator of the Horse-Hill 1 project for GBP550,000. Of this, GBP50,000 was in cash and the rest via the issue of 28.6 million UK Oil & Gas shares at 1.75p each.
UK Oil & Gas also acquired Primorus Investments' 5% stake in Horse Hill Developments for GBP1.4 million in cash and shares. UK Oil & Gas will issue 57.1 million shares at the same price to Primorus in addition to GBP375,000 in cash.
As a result of the Solo Oil buyout, to ensure parity with the previous acquisitions, UK Oil & Gas will issue a further 2.6 million shares to Gunsynd and 6.5 million shares to Primorus. Primorus will receive a further GBP125,000 while Gunsynd a further GBP50,000.
Primorus shares were flat at 0.14p while Gunsynd were trading down 1.9% at 0.03p.
"This further strategic acquisition firmly cements UK Oil & Gas as the dominant player in the Horse Hill Portland and Kimmeridge oil discoveries and licences. UK Oil & Gas's three recent Horse Hill Development acquisitions provide a valuable controlling interest and exemplify the rationale behind our recent change of AIM status to an operating company," UK Oil & Gas Chief Executive Officer Stephen Sanderson said.