ZOL.L Regulatory News (ZOL)

12 Dec 2005 14:41

Crosby Capital Partners Inc12 December 2005 12 December 2005 Crosby Capital Partners IB Daiwa Corporation completes acquisition of Darcy Energy Ltd Singapore - Dec 12th. Crosby Capital Partners ("Crosby") announces thesuccessful completion of the acquisition by IB Daiwa Corporation ("IBD") ofDarcy Energy Ltd ("Darcy"). Crosby Capital Partners advised and assisted IBDaiwa in its purchase of 100% of the issued and outstanding share capital ofDarcy for consideration of US$57.5 million. Darcy is an upstream US energy company focused on the development and productionof, mainly, gas in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Crosby currently holds 22,000,000 million shares of IBD, and warrants, that ifexercised, would give Crosby a further 64,600,000 shares of IBD. Crosby willalso receive a further 34,325,000 shares of IBD on 15 December 2005 followingthe completion of the acquisition of Lodore Resources Inc. ("Lodore") by IBD.In total, assuming that Crosby's warrants are all exercised, Crosby would hold120,925,000 shares of IBD, representing on a fully diluted basis approximately28% of the enlarged share capital of IBD. Simon Fry, Chief Executive of Crosby commented "we foreshadowed the importanceof this particular deal earlier in the year when IB Daiwa, with our help, signeda binding agreement to acquire Darcy in what was an ambitious timetable.Completing that deal is a major achievement by any standard, and Darcy brings anextra dimension of value to IBD." He added "Darcy produces and sells oil & gas into the energy hungry US market,and operates fields and developments in a market that sets the standard forpolitical risk. Darcy's proven and probable reserves were recently independentlyvalued at in excess of US$130 million, and the existing wells are expected togenerate over US$30 million in revenue in calendar 2006 based on gas priceassumptions over the course of the year that are well below the prevailing US$15per mcf. The recent completion of the acquisition of Lodore Resources and nowthe Darcy deal gives IB Daiwa a complement of assets and exploration intereststhat are exceptional for a Japanese company, and which have transformed IB Daiwainto a significant oil and gas and natural resources player." This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange