(Sharecast News) - Harbour Energy, the UK's largest North Sea oil and gas producer, is in merger talks with US rival Talos Energy, it emerged on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Harbour and Talos - which operates in the Gulf of Mexico - have been holding on-off talks for around six months, but negotiations have ramped up in recent weeks.
Citing one unnamed person familiar with the matter, Reuters said a deal would give Harbour the opportunity to list in New York. Harbour is looking to diversify overseas and scale back its UK investments, after the government imposed a windfall tax on British oil and gas producers. It launched a review of its operations in January, and in April told staff it expected to cut around 350 onshore jobs because of the levy.
Harbour has a market value of around £2bn, while Talos is valued at around $1.8bn. Terms have not been confirmed, however, and the sources told Reuters there was no certainty a deal would be reached.
Neither company has commented on the report.
New York-listed Talos closed 5% higher on Tuesday, and by 1100 BST on Wednesday, London-listed Harbour had put on 4% at 250p.
Should a deal go ahead, it would be the second announced this year by a North Sea operator, with AIM-listed rival Hurricane Energy currently in the process of being acquired by Prax Exploration & Production after accepting an offer worth up to £249m in March.
Harbour Energy (HBR)