By Karolin Schaps
LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Premier Oil hasrejected two secret bid approaches from Ophir Energy,which wants to forge a 3 billion pounds ($5 billion) combinedoil exploration group, a person with knowledge of the mattersaid on Sunday.
The latest all-share merger proposal was unanimously turneddown by Premier's board a fortnight ago because it was notconsidered to offer a good strategic fit, according to thesource, who asked not to be named because the matter is notpublic.
Premier and Ophir declined to comment.
Combining Premier and Ophir would create a firm operatingfrom east Africa to Asia to the Falklands. It would be the fifthlargest oil and gas explorer listed in London, behind BP,Shell, BG and Tullow Oil.
The Sunday Times, which first reported the takeoverapproaches, said the companies were likely to make a statementto the stock market on Monday now that the discussions had beenpublicised.
Ophir, led by former Goldman Sachs banker Nick Cooper, madeits first bid approach in February, days after Premier announcedthat its chief executive Simon Lockett would be stepping down after nine years in the role.
Shares in Premier jumped on news of the departure ofLockett, whom shareholders have held responsible for successivedowngrades to production guidance in 2013 and disappointingforecasts for this year.
Premier, which has a market capitalisation of 1.72 billionpounds, was founded in Scotland in 1934 as the Caribbean OilCompany to look for oil and gas in Trinidad.
Ophir, worth 1.44 billion pounds, floated on the Londonstock market only three years ago and saw its shares jump in2012 following a significant gas find in Tanzania. ($1 = 0.5948 British Pounds) (Writing by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Sophie Walker)