Xtellus to buy Serinus Energy in £5.1m cash deal

(Sharecast News) - Serinus Energy said on Monday that it has agreed to be taken over by US investment firm Xtellus in a £5.1m cash deal.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Xtellus will pay 3.40p per share in cash, which is a premium of about 31% to the closing share price on Friday.

Xtellus noted the withdrawal of capital from UK-listed small cap oil and gas stocks and the comparatively low sector valuation and said it views this "as an opportune time to acquire oil & gas assets and provide them with the necessary private capital for growth".

"Serinus, whilst delivering well on its goals, has failed to gain reward or recognition of that from the market and continues to trade at a depressed share price," it said.

"Meanwhile, maintaining Serinus' listing on AIM and the WSE imposes significant extra cost for a company of its size, having a market capitalisation of approximately £3.8 million as at the latest practicable date, whilst providing little incremental benefit with regard to capital access.

"This has led Xtellus to believe that Serinus would be better placed as a private business with access to capital that will be provided through Xtellus to pursue opportunities beyond Serinus' current reach."

At 1345 GMT, shares of Serinus - which operates and produces within Romania and Tunisia - were up 24% at 3.23p.