Starting news article english 26 October 2011

Clifford Chance's natural resources corporate finance practice advises on two key oil & gas transactions

The first was advising Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Canaccord Genuity as joint bookrunners and underwriters to the $75m equity fundraising by Rockhopper Exploration to fund Rockhopper's farm-in with Desire Petroleum offshore the Falkland Islands.

The second was advising Dominion Petroleum in relation to the recommended offer made by Ophir Energy to acquire Dominion Petroleum. The offer, to be implemented by means of a Scheme of Arrangement under the Companies Act of Bermuda, values Dominion at approximately $190m.  Once completed, the deal will create the largest independent net deepwater acreage in the highly prospective hydrocarbon province of East Africa. 

The practice is also advising RBC as sponsor and financial adviser to Premier Oil's recently announced cash and share offer for Encore Oil, valuing Encore at $365m.  Partners David Lewis and Steven Fox advised on the transactions.

The CC team on the Dominion deal included support from senior associate Katy Foster, with Employee Incentives issues led by partner, Sonia Gilbert and bondholder related matters led by Capital Markets, partner Simon Sinclair. Partner Alastair Mordaunt assisted by associate Alison Farquhar advised on anti-trust matters. Lawyer Andrew James worked on both transactions.