ZOL.L Regulatory News (ZOL)

18 Jul 2005 07:00

Crosby Capital Partners Inc18 July 2005 18 July 2005 CROSBY CAPITAL PARTNERS INC. ('Crosby' or the 'Company') Co-investment With Meridian Capital to acquire Middle Eastern Oil & Gas Assets The Company is pleased to announce that it has completed the reorganisation andfinancing of its interests in the Middle East oil and gas assets which arecurrently owned by PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk ("Medco Energi") throughits subsidiary Novus Australia Energy Company Pty Ltd ("Novus Petroleum") (see 'Notes' below). Following negotiations with Medco Energi the acquisition of 100% of the sharesof the Medco Energi subsidiary which owns the Middle East assets of NovusPetroleum has now been completed for consideration of US$ 65 million in cash. This acquisition was completed through a co-investment with Meridian Capital CISFund ("Meridian"), a private equity firm specialising in oil & gas and energyinvestments. Meridien provided all the capital required to complete thetransaction. Following completion of the transaction, Crosby Group's net interest in theassets through the co-investment with Meridian will be approximately 11%. In addition to providing the capital required for the acquisition, Meridian hasalso committed to provide US$20 million in further loan financing to support thedevelopment and exploration programme. The financing provided by Meridian in relation to the transaction is withoutrecourse to Crosby. The Novus Middle East assets comprise working interests in four concessions inOman and one in the UAE. The assets include production from the Bukha fieldoffshore Oman, a development project in the Greater Bukha area, which containsthe West Bukha and Tibat discoveries, and a large exploration position coveringthe Northern Arabian Gas-condensate Play. Commenting on the transaction, Simon Fry, CEO of Crosby, said: "The completionof the acquisition of Novus's Middle East assets provides Crosby with aninterest in a unique portfolio of extremely valuable assets that have taken manyyears for Novus to develop. In Meridian, Crosby has found a partner that sharesour view on the significant value of this portfolio and their strong supportmeans that sufficient funds will now be available to help develop these assetsthat contain a number of ready to drill prospects, which cumulatively have thepotential to generate gross mean reserves of approximately 5.5 tcf of gas and500 mmbbl of condensate.." For further information, please contact: Simon Fry, Chief Executive Officer in London on +44 207 590 2800Ian Gibbs Managing Director in Singapore on +65 63202606Andrew Marshall, Fishburn Hedges +44 (0)20 7839 4321 Notes 1. On June 16 2004 the Company announced that it had acquired interests in a variety of oil and gas assets in the Middle East, the United States of America and Pakistan that were owned by Novus Petroleum Limited. Crosby acquired contractual interests in these assets following the acquisition of Novus Petroleum by PT Medco Energi International Tbk. Whilst the option held entitled Crosby to acquire 49% of the Middle East assets, following negotiations with Medco, Crosby and Meridian, via a co-investment venture vehicle, have now acquired 100% of the assets. 2. On 31 January 2005 the Company sold its interests in the US oil and gas assets to Lodore Resources Inc. 3. tcf - means trillion cubic feet mmbbl - means million barrels This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange