Seplats rns28 Jul 2015 09:25
On 9 July 2015, post period end, the Company announced that it had reached agreement through its wholly owned subsidiary Newton Energy Limited ("Newton") for the release of the sums from escrow that had previously been allocated as a refundable deposit against a potential investment.
Pursuant to an agreement reached by Seplat, the sum of US$408 million which was held in an escrow account has been released. The escrow account was originally set up in connection with a potential acquisition of an asset by a consortium, which Newton has an option to invest into. There have been material delays with the underlying acquisition that prompted Seplat to reach agreement with the consortium for release of the escrow amount. The remaining US$45 million of the US$453 million which was originally allocated as a refundable deposit remains as a deposit with the potential vendors of the asset whilst negotiations between the consortium and vendors continue.
Certain recent events have led to the restart of negotiations by the consortium to secure the asset, and Seplat continues to work with them. As this process continues, and following the release of the escrow amount, a sum of US$29 million has been placed into a new escrow account in London, pending agreement of final terms of the acquisition transaction. The remaining balance of US$368 million has been returned to the Group.
In the event that terms can be agreed for the potential acquisition of the asset by the consortium and Newton agrees to proceed with the investment, the funds in escrow will be released back to Newton. Should Newton at its discretion decide not to proceed with the potential investment, an additional payment of US$20 million will be made to other consortium members with the remaining funds in escrow released to Newton.
Newton has also agreed to pay a portion of previously incurred consortium costs equating to US$11 million, payable US$3.5 million now and US$7.5 million on a deferred basis
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