Medco Takes Over Ophir May 17

UK Ophir will become a part of Indonesia's Medco May 17, as Medco Global has received the relevant approval from the Fair Competition Commission of Tanzania, the UK company said May 9.  It is anticipated that the acquisition will be effected by means of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under UK company law. Ophir shares will cease trading at 18.30 local time.

Ophir is a partner with Singapore Pavilion in a project operated by Anglo-Dutch major Shell offshore Tanzania, although the path to development has been rocky thanks to government interventions.

Ophir put itself up for sale last year when it became apparent that it could not raise financing for its complex, multi-stakeholder Fortuna LNG project off Equatorial Guinea. It also said goodbye to the CEO Nick Cooper. Its upstream growth, powered by some ex-Santos assets, will come from southeast Asia. 

Its financial advisers were Morgan Stanley and Lambert Advisory, the latter also worked on the buyer's side on the DNO acquisition of Faroe Petroleum, around the same time.