The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Mrs McKinney-Lambert also raised queries over Challenger’s statement that it may have to pay a “top-up” premium to insurers who covered its Perseverance One well. The oil explorer said: “As a result of the ultimate cost of the Perseverance One well, a ‘top-up’ premium amount may be sought by insurers in relation to the final overall cost of the insurance.
“This matter remains subject to negotiation with the insurers given that the well was completed safely and without incident almost 12 months ago.” However, the BREEF chief questioned what this was “all about”.
“How can the insurance premium still be subject to negotiation?” she challenged. “How much does the company that drilled in our waters still owe the insurance providers? What was the level of coverage? We have asked what the minimum insurance required by the Government was, and to see the certificate of insurance to understand what was actually covered by the policy.
“We heard BPC [Challenger] state that ‘fisheries and tourism were covered’. What does that actually mean? Fishermen and tour operators expressed extreme concern about the risks of drilling on the edge of the Great Bahama Bank. It’s clear that it is time for a ban on oil drilling in our waters.”
Still, the Challenger statement makes clear that the Perseverance One creditor settlement is vital in inching the oil explorer back to financial health. “The previously reported aggregate payables, creditor, liability and other potential financial exposures on the balance sheet - of approximately $22m - will be reduced to approximately $2.5m,” it said.
“The cost cutting programme embarked on in July 2021 is now also substantially complete. The company’s ongoing cash-burn has been reduced from a high of $700,000 per month in February 2021 to less than $200,000 per month currently.
“The company’s current cash balance is $1.5m, and the Company is presently evaluating various funding alternatives to secure additional capital - both to enable timely payment of the final agreed creditor settlements in the 2022 first quarter (for which approximately $2m will be required), as well as to provide sufficient working capital thereafter.”
Eytan Uliel, Challenger’s chief executive, was quoted as saying: “At the start of November, when advising of Challenger Energy’s financial results for the first half of 2021, I observed that technical results below expectation and substantial cost increases on two successive wells in The Bahamas and Trinidad, coupled with inherited legacy liabilities, had placed the company in a stressed financial position - one where aggregate payables, creditors, liabilities and potential financial exposures on the balance sheet substantially exceeded the company’s cash resources.
Creditors owed a collective $11.3m for the drilling of an exploratory oil well in The Bahamas have agreed to accept a near-84 percent haircut on this debt, it was revealed yesterday.
Challenger Energy Group, the former Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), in a statement to the capital markets said contractors, vendors and others that provided services to facilitate the drilling of its Perseverance One well in waters 90 miles west of Andros have agreed to accept a $2m settlement on what is collectively owed to them.
“All remaining creditors from the drilling of the Perseverance One well in The Bahamas in early 2021 (approximately $11.3m) have agreed to be settled for total payment of approximately $2m in cash, of which approximately $0.6m has been paid to-date,” Challenger said.
It added that “the remaining balance of approximately $1.4m [is] payable by January 31, 2022, to reduce the total of remaining Perseverance One creditors to nil. Payment of this remaining balance is to be funded from new capital to the business, which is in the process of being sourced by the company.”
The creditors involved are not identified, and there was no mention as to whether Bahamian or local companies and service providers were among them.
It is also unclear why creditors on Challenger/BPC’s Bahamian exploratory well have agreed to effectively write-off some $9.3m, or 83.7 percent, of the debts owed to them. However, this settlement on the surface represents a significant victory for the oil exploration outfit in its battle for financial survival, as the Bahamas-related debts had accounted for over half is $22m liabilities.
Challenger’s progress to restoring financial solvency and stability is likely to disappoint Bahamian environmental activists, who were doubtless hoping never to see from or hear of the company again. Its statement made no mention of the four Bahamas oil exploration licences it is seeking to renew, nor the status of negotiations on these with the Davis administration.
The oil explorer also made no reference to outstanding licence fees owed to the Government from past exploration periods, which are thought to be over $1.5m, and whether these have been paid.
This was seized upon by Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) executive director, who told this newspaper: “We still don’t know how much of the outstanding licence fees owed to The Bahamas have been paid. This is a serious concern. The statement doesn’t disclose that, and the Bahamian people deserve to know.”
"I am very glad to read that rather large board & senior management structure will also be thinned out. I always thought it was unnecessary."
Thinned out?
" It is also intended that certain changes to the composition of the Board are implemented in the same time frame. In this regard, the Company has identified new Board members and new senior personnel for key executive roles, those identified individuals having considerable experience in mature field operations, production enhancement and maximisation. Appointments are expected to take effect on completion of the restructure and recapitalisation process, with further detailed announcements to be made at that time."
Paragraph 12.5 in the Articles of Association of CERL is interesting ...
Notwithstanding any other provision of these Articles, the Company shall have the power and authority at any time to purchase all or any of the Deferred Shares for an aggregate of £1.
Full details of Shareholders
The details below relate to individuals/corporate bodies that were shareholders during the review
period or that had ceased to be shareholders since the date of the previous confirmation statement.
Shareholder information for a non-traded company as at the confirmation statement date is shown
below
Shareholding 1: 943040487 ORDINARY (0.0005) shares held as at the date of this
confirmation statement
Name: CHALLENGER ENERGY GROUP PLC
Shareholding 2: 418379981 DEFERRED (0.0095) shares held as at the date of this
confirmation statement
Name: CHALLENGER ENERGY GROUP PLC
Statement of Capital (Share Capital)
Class of Shares: DEFERRED
(0.0095)
Currency: GBP
Number allotted 418379981
Aggregate nominal value: 3974609.8195
Prescribed particulars
NO RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN DIVIDENDS OR OTHER DISTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE
COMPANY NO RIGHT TO RECIEVE NOTCE OF, ATTEND NOR VOTE AT A COMPANY
GENERAL MEETING. ON WINDING UP OR OTHER RETURN OF CAPITAL, OTHER THAN BY
CONVERSION OR REDEPMPTON ON PURCHASE BY THE COMPANY OF ANY SHARES, THE
HOLDERS SHALL BE ENTITLED TO RECIEVE THE AMOUNT PAID UP ON THEIR SHARES
AFTER THE DISTRIBUTION OF £MILLION IN RESPECT OF EACH ORDINARY SHARE HELD
BY THEM RESPECTIVLEY. NO FURTHER RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ASSETS OF THE
COMPANY
Class of Shares: ORDINARY
(0.0005)
Currency: GBP
Number allotted 943040487
Aggregate nominal value: 471520.2435
Prescribed particulars
RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN DIVIDENDS AND OTHER DISTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE
COMPANY. RIGHT TO RECEIVE NOTICE OF, ATTEND AND VOTE AT EVERY MEETING OF
THE COMPANY. ON LIQUIDATION, SHAREHOLDERS WILL CONTINUE TO BE ENTITLED TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE ASSETS AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION PRO-RATA TO THE AMOUNT
CREDITED AS PAID UP ON SUCH SHARES.
nic - Columbus Energy Resources Ltd is not a new company. On 10 Dec 2020 Columbus Energy Resources PLC was re-registered from a Public Limited Company to a Private Company.
Columbus Energy Resources Ltd has two classes of shares, Ordinary and Deferred
As recently as 10 Aug 2021, a Confirmation Statement was filed at Companies House which showed the number of shares of each class allotted, the prescribed particulars of each class and full details of shareholders.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this de-listed and go private. Perhaps that's why a seperate company named Challenger Energy was set up in June alongside the existing PLC.
Challenger Energy 028910B 22 Jun 2021
Challenger Energy Group PLC 123863C 25 Aug 2009
" I hope CEG will now perf the Upper Cruse to mitigate losses."
How will they pay for that?
I imagine that they struggle to cover the cost of workovers at Goudron which are neccessary operational costs to keep the oil flowing. Stopping or reducing workovers will likely see production fall off a cliff.
Do you even know if S1 and/or S2 are still producing? We could do with a breakdown of what and where any production is taking place.
nergy Minister Stuart Young is urging Energy Sector stakeholders not to panic about the future of industry in spite of a pending transition away from hydrocarbons.
During his speech at Energy Chamber’s Policy Forum on Tuesday, Young once again gave assurances that Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector still had a lot to offer.
“First of all, I understand your concerns and your anxiety, but my advice to you is let’s not panic. Let’s work together. Let’s do what is necessary because the truth is hydrocarbons are here to stay,” said Young, who once again stressed that natural gas was the cleanest of the fossil fuels and therefore would be last to be phased out during the world’s transition to clean energy.
“Gas is going to be not only the transition hydrocarbon fuel, but it is the cleanest burning fuel, and what we need to take forward with us into the future, and we must protect that. So I ask all of you to get on board with that conversation and don’t panic, don’t be anxious about our closing world on us. We have our place there at the table and we will fight. The government will fight,” he said, echoing a similar call which he made before the GECF last week.
Young was responding to concerns raised by Chairman of the Energy Chamber Dwight Mahabir, who shared that there were growing worry among stakeholders.
“Many members of the chamber are nervous about the future. Many of our members were not fully recovered from the shock of the 2015 oil price crash, when we were hit by the global pandemic in March 2020,” said Mahabir who added that these anxieties have only been heightened by the pending Energy transition.
“They have been struggling to stay afloat over the past two years. There’s been a massive shift in sentiment against fossil fuels in the international capital markets,” he said.
Minister Young also told the forum that he planned to approach Cabinet next year to discuss the reform of fiscal regimes for oil and gas production, including changes to the Supplemental Petroleum Tax (SPT) and the Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT) as first announced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert in his 2022 budget presentation.
“As we mature as a province we must find ways to stay competitive and to compete for that global capex of these companies who are investing in T&T,” Young argued.
Young added he also intends to approach Cabinet this Thursday to discuss the deep-water bid rounds.
The Energy Minister added he will be leading a team to the world petroleum congress to help push the bid rounds in a few weeks time.
“And you will see when those bid rounds become available and become public that we have listened and we have made the necessary adjustments to ensure there is success with persons entering that bid rounds and the future development of oil and gas in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
https://www.guardian.co.tt/business/young-dont-panic-hydrocarbons-6.2.1418003.3e412c19f6
M&G Real Estate wants to step up its already substantial North West portfolio, and has its eye on a £300m plus mixed regeneration project and more office development.
But in the wake of the apparent death of Northern Powerhouse Rail, and anxieties about the imminent Levelling Up white paper, is government undermining the rationale for investment?
Last week’s Integrated Rail Plan announcement and the soon-to-land Levelling Up white paper have spooked and unsettled the property market. No investor is more seriously committed than M&G Real Estate whose portfolio includes a half share of the Manchester Arndale Centre, the recently completed 102,000 sq ft Lincoln office scheme, The Peel Centre in Blackburn, and Gemini Retail Park in Warrington. Is M&G confident? Does the direction of public policy set alarm bells ringing? Chris Perkins, M&G Real Estate’s head of UK capital markets, spoke exclusively to Subplot.
A £300m investment
You can take it for granted that M&G is confident. Last week it revealed plans to demolish 50 Fountain Street, Manchester, and replace it with a new 55,000 sq ft development. That’s just the start, says Perkins. “We very much want to invest further capital in Manchester, via upgrades of existing assets like 50 Fountain Street, but also we’re looking for opportunities for place-making at scale, as we have been in other cities. We’d like to take more development risk on office schemes and think our exposure to Manchester will grow significantly,” he says.
Development at scale
What Perkins has in mind is something like the Edinburgh Haymarket development or, put it another way, an expansion of what M&G did (with others) at 101 Embankment. “We’re talking multiple hundreds of millions. Haymarket Edinburgh was £300m plus in value and if we could replicate that sort of opportunity with mixed use in a key area, it has appeal. We are actively looking for opportunities,” he says. The difficulty is that sites are scarce, and a couple of the best joint venture opportunities (Mayfield, Media City) have just been snapped up by Land Securities (Subplot, 9 November).
But where?
But the hunt is in progress, a swift outcome (think something promising within 12 months) is anticipated so the team has a smooth workflow through The Lincoln, onto 50 Fountain Street in 2023/4, and beyond. Early days but maybe this will involve unknotting the kind of tangled site only somebody with M&G’s connections and skills could manage.
Active asset management
In the meantime, the focus on letting The Lincoln (tails are up on pre-lets) and keeping the Arndale fresh (no hint that M&G plans to offload their part-ownership). Perkins neatly sidestepped a question about the future of M&G’s Warrington and Blackburn assets, so draw your own conclusion.
https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/the-subplot-boris-gets-a-warning-important-numbers-shed-mysteries/
M&G plc today announces the launch of the PruFund Planet range of funds on its International Portfolio Bond.
PruFund Planet is the UK’s first range of risk-rated, actively-managed, multi-asset funds, designed to deliver a smoothed investment journey for clients, while aiming to generate both competitive returns and positive environmental and societal outcomes.
Michael Leahy, managing director of Prudential International Assurance, said: “Extending the availability of PruFund Planet to the International Portfolio Bond gives advisers and their clients yet another way to access the people and planet-focused version of our market-leading smoothed investment solution.
“Crucially, it combines the tax benefits and planning opportunities offered by an offshore bond with the real and growing need for advisers whose clients, particularly in retirement, are increasingly looking for a smoothed investment journey, while seeking to make a positive difference to the planet.”
The PruFund Planet range is now available through M&G’s Retirement Account and International Portfolio Bond products, with ISA and other bond versions available next year.
https://planet.ifamagazine.com/prufund-planet-range-launches-on-international-portfolio-bond/
LONDON (Reuters) – London’s High Court has ruled that the transfer of 12 billion pounds ($16.03 billion) in annuity policies from M&G to specialist insurer Rothesay Life can go ahead, Rothesay said on Wednesday, after the court originally blocked the move.
The deal – set to be the largest ever such transfer, covering 400,000 policyholders – was announced in 2018 at the time that British insurer Prudential, the annuities’ former manager, said it would split in two.
Financial terms of the transfer were not disclosed. The annuities, which pay pensioners a fixed income for life, have since been managed by Prudential’s former UK arm M&G.
The High Court initially blocked the transfer following representations from around 1,000 policyholders, who were wary about the financial strength of Rothesay, a major player in the sector.
But a UK court of appeal overturned that judgment last year, paving the way for a second transfer hearing.
Insurers frequently transfer books of business to one another, but the process requires court approval.
Industry sources say the annuity transfer market was hit by the initial ruling.
“The court’s decision has provided important clarity for our whole sector,” Rothesay said in a statement.
https://www.fxempire.com/news/article/uk-high-court-approves-12-billion-pound-annuity-transfer-to-rothesay-from-mg-819463
Billy Clegg / James Crothers / Hugo Liddy are the PR people named on each RNS. Could Star and Willec be hiding in plain sight?
https://www.camarco.co.uk/people/
I don't think the drop today is related to Covid-19. More likely linked to PruFund addition to Ascentric delayed to 2022.
The addition of the PruFund range to M&G’s Wealth Platform (formerly Ascentric) has been delayed to early 2022, M&G’s managing director of wealth management David Montgomery has said.
M&G bought Ascentric from Royal London for £86m in May last year. In March, M&G renamed Ascentric to the M&G Wealth Platform.
In February, Ascentric CEO Richard Denning told Citywire New Model Adviser that M&G’s flagship PruFund range would be available to advisers on the platform in 2021.
However, speaking on The Lang Cat’s Home Games yesterday (17 November), Montgomery (pictured) said that, due to the ongoing process of separating Ascentric from Royal London, the PruFunds range will not be available on the platform until next year.
‘PruFund is going to be on our platform and we are working on that now. With Ascentric, we just have a lot of work to do. We need to separate the platform technology and infrastructure from Royal London,’ he said.
‘We are spending a lot of time doing that and other work to improve the platform itself. When we have got that right, we will get PruFund on and out into the market.
‘PruFund is important in terms of a solution to the market, and we want to get it onto the platform, which will probably be early next year.’
When probed about this, an M&G spokesperson said: ‘There has been a desire from many advisers to have a PruFund option on the platform. It’s something that we will deliver, but it has to be the right solution at the right time. Listening to the market, it was key that we did not rush it for the sake of it.
‘We are looking to introduce PruFund Planet on the platform in the first part of 2022 and think it will be well received by advisers and their clients. There has been no delay and, like everything today, it’s about optimum delivery in satisfying a growing investment need at the time best to suit the platform and advisers.’
Currently, PruFunds is only available to IFAs through Pru products such as its Retirement Account and its ISA.
https://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/news/prufund-addition-to-ascentric-delayed-to-2022/a1584634
Production at Goudron was/is predictable but requires regular workovers in order to clean up the producing wells and maintain optimum flow. Yes the field is old but there is/was still further production potential. The difference between Neil Ritson and Leo Koot is that Neil is a geologist and Leo is a petroleum engineer. Different skill sets and different approaches to running the company. Who knows what could have been if GY-678 hadn't ended in catastrophe and brought Neil's tenure to an end.
Leo, IMHO, wanted to go large on development. He added to the company's assets but in doing so the monies available were spread a bit thin and he put all his eggs in one basket in drilling S1. Low oil prices conspired against him but his plan didn't include riding out the storm until prices improved as they have now. Perhaps in hindsight he should have kept Goudron flowing until the economic environment was more favourable to exploring the SWP. I think he was somewhat hasty in drilling S1 but it was not in his nature to wait and his promises of CERP becoming a £500m MC company perhaps incentivised him to take risks. Even a petroleum engineer could not get S1 to flow from the LC. Epic fail.
In the LGO days we did have regular updates on production, not just a cumulative total but a breakdown of where production was occurring and how plans to increase production were progressing. Leo unfortunately was not so open and his 'tight hole' at S1 was the start of mushroom management as far as shareholders were concerned. Eytan talks about being honest with shareholders but we still have to see any significant production data.
Willec is here to flog the dead horse down the final few furlongs.
Shareholders will be the last to know.
"Generally, company directors owe legal duties to the company and are obliged to act in the best interests of the shareholders of the company as a whole. However, directors are under a continuing obligation to consider whether their company is insolvent or is likely to become insolvent with no prospect of recovery. If the directors believe this to be the case, their duties change in nature because they are then under an obligation to act in the best interests of the company’s creditors as a whole."
Meanwhile, in Trinidad, there has been zero press comment about Challenger despite the obvious elephant in the room.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today downgraded The Bahamas’ sovereign creditworthiness citing “the failure of successive governments to implement timely and effective” fiscal reforms even prior to COVID-19.
The credit rating agency joined its rival, Moody’s, in plunging this nation further into so-called ‘junk’ status by slashing its long-term and local currency rating to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-‘ after the national debt increased by $2.4bn in just two years.
However, S&P broke with Moody’s in simultaneously providing The Bahamas with a glimmer of hope by upgrading its “outlook” for this nation’s public finances from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’.
Investors will likely seek higher interest rates on Bahamian sovereign debt to compensate for the extra risk due to the Government’s loss of creditworthiness. This, in turn, will lead to the higher debt servicing costs that will ultimately have to be paid by the Bahamian taxpayer.
And the downgrade could also hit foreign direct investment (FDI) and associated confidence, as investors will have to factor increased country and fiscal risks into their decisions as to whether to deploy capital on projects in this nation.
http://www.tribune242.com/news/2021/nov/12/bahamas-downgraded-standard-poors/?news