Strike pitches to MinRes, Hancock for Talon tilt; angry investors meet
The investor pressure at Talon Energy is reaching fever pitch.
Strike Energy CEO Stuart Nicholls.
It is understood nearly 30 per cent of Talon Energy’s shareholder register sat down with its boss Colby Hauser on Monday to force the board to engage with Strike Energy’s bid, after it was revealed by Street Talk.
The angry shareholders have fired off an ultimatum to Talon’s board to take Strike’s proposal seriously. With the investor pressure building, a deal could be reached as early as this week.
Sources said Mineral Resources and Hancock Prospecting – fresh off battling it out at Warrego Energy’s take-private – have been approached for funding or strategic involvement. However, given Talon’s $109 million odd market capitalisation, the big fish reckon Talon’s too small a target to take a bite, sources said.
On Wednesday, Strike lobbed a non-binding indicative proposal to demerge Talon’s Mongolian assets and buy the rest via a scrip-based scheme of arrangement. It offered investors 0.4586 Strike shares for every Talon share they owned plus ownership of the Mongolian assets in a pro-rata basis.
Strike pushed Talon to enter process agreement and grant exclusivity by mid-day Sunday. The target wrote back saying it needed a week to respond, following which Strike withdrew its proposal, according to Talon’s company filings.
Strike’s push is being driven by the Walyering gas field in Perth Basin, which is 45 per cent owned by Talon and 55 per cent by Strike. The 33 terajoules-a-day field has delayed commissioning to the third quarter but is seen as a key part of solving WA’s projected domestic gas supply shortages.
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