Rockpool Acqui Regulatory News (ROC)

1 Nov 2006 07:01

Roc Oil Company Limited01 November 2006 1 November 2006 ROC OIL COMPANY LIMITED ("ROC") STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE ROC TO RAISE APPROXIMATELY $219 MILLION VIA A RENOUNCEABLE 3 FOR 8 RIGHTS ISSUE ROC is pleased to announce a fully underwritten pro-rata renounceable 3 for 8rights issue ("Rights Issue") of approximately 81 million ordinary shares withan issue price of $2.70 per share to raise gross proceeds of $219 million. Shareholders entitled to participate ("Eligible Shareholders") are those with aregistered address in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan,Switzerland, or Qatar, and certain Qualified Investors in the United Kingdom.These shareholders will be offered 3 New Shares in the Company for every 8Existing Shares held on 10 November 2006. Trading of Rights will commence on ASXon 3 November and end on 20 November. The Rights will not trade on AIM or berenounceable in the UK. The $2.70 issue price represents a discount of about 24% to ROC's closing shareprice of $3.55 per share on 31 October and a discount of 25% to the weightedaverage share price of $3.60 for the preceding month. The New Shares will rankequally with existing ordinary shares of ROC. The primary purpose of the Rights Issue is to enable ROC to reduce debt incurredin relation to the recent acquisition of a 24.5 % operated interest in the ZhaoDong Block in the Bohai Bay, offshore China. The Rights Issue will also providegreater financial flexibility for the Company to continue to build shareholdervalue. The Rights Issue is fully underwritten by UBS AG. Oriel Securities Limited andCommsec will act as co-managers to the Rights Issue. A Prospectus in relation to the Rights Issue will be lodged with the AustralianSecurities and Investments Commission and Australian Stock Exchange today. TheProspectus will be made available when the securities are offered and EligibleShareholders wishing to acquire the securities will need to complete theapplication form that will accompany the Prospectus. Acceptances close on 27November. Subsequent to the Rights Issue, ROC will have approximately 297.7 millionordinary shares on issue. Commenting on the capital raising, ROC's Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Doran,said: "ROC has always maintained a consistent attitude towards borrowing - we don'tlike it, but we are prepared to wear an appropriate amount of logical debt. WhenROC looked at buying the Zhao Dong assets it was obvious that Apache was nevergoing to sell for anything other than cash and the only way for ROC to providethe cash was to arrange a debt facility. Immediately after the Apache deal was announced in June 2006, people startedenquiring as to when and how we would restructure the 12-month loan facility.Until yesterday, our response was always the same: we are considering almosteverything and we are committed to nothing. Today, we committed to a Rights Issue that will substantially reduce the debt toan optimum level. The Rights Issue is deliberately designed to treat allEligible Shareholders fairly and equally. It provides Eligible Shareholders withan attractively pitched issue price and the opportunity to participate in ROC'snext growth phase - which promises to be every bit as exciting as any we'veexperienced in the past." Michelle ManookGeneral Manager Corporate Affairs For further information please contact: Dr John Doran on Tel: +61-2-8356-2000 Fax: +61-2-9380-2635 E-mail: jdoran@rocoil.com.au Or visit ROC's website: www.rocoil.com.au Dr Kevin Hird General Manager Business Development Tel: +44 (0)207 586 7935 Fax: +44 (0)207 722 3919 Email: khird@rocoil.com.au Nick Lambert Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial Tel: +44 (0)207 861 3232 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange