London - British oil and gas explorer Ophir Energy Plc offered to buy Salamander Energy Plc in an all-stock deal that would help the company to expand into southeast Asia.
The offer values Salamander at 266.9 million pounds ($418.5 million), based on Ophir's closing price of 180.1 pence on Thursday and the 259.13 million Salamander shares outstanding, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Salamander shareholders would be entitled to 0.5719 Ophir shares for each Salamander share that they hold, the companies said in a joint statement on Friday.
Ophir's offer is conditional on Salamander cancelling its deal with Malaysia's Sona Petroleum Bhd to sell a 40 percent stake in two oil and gas blocks in the Gulf of Thailand.
As well as Thailand, Salamander drills for oil in Indonesia.
Salamander said on Oct. 27 it had received proposals from Ophir, which has oil and gas exploration assets in Africa, and a consortium led by Spain's Compania Espanola de Petroleos (CEPSA).
The CEPSA-led consortium walked away from its bid this month. It had, Salamander said earlier, offered 121 pence per share in cash and one contingent value right of up to 24 pence per share.
Reuters