Touchstone considering its bid for Trinity as competing offer emerges

Touchstone Exploration updated the market on its all-share offer for Trinity Exploration & Production on Monday, after the announcement of a recommended offer by Lease Operators for Trinity.

The AIM-traded firm urged Trinity shareholders to refrain from taking any action, adding that it was currently considering its position in light of the new development.

Prior to the announcement of its own all-share offer for Trinity on 1 May, Touchstone had secured irrevocable undertakings from shareholders representing 38.9% of Trinity's ordinary share capital.

Those undertakings remained binding after the recent shareholder meetings that overwhelmingly approved the Touchstone scheme of arrangement, which was intended to facilitate Touchstone's acquisition of Trinity.

The terms of the irrevocable undertakings required the shareholders who provided them to vote against the Lease Operators scheme.

As a result, Touchstone said it believed that the statutory majorities required for the Lease Operators scheme to proceed could not be met, rendering it incapable of becoming effective unless Touchstone's own scheme lapsed or is withdrawn.

Additionally, Touchstone said it had received a letter of intent from Andrew Byles, representing about 2.58% of Trinity’s share capital, expressing continued support for the Touchstone offer and opposition to the Lease Operators bid.

That brought the total support for Touchstone's offer to about 41.45% of Trinity's share capital.

Touchstone said it retained the option to invoke a condition to lapse its own scheme on 22 August, following the original court hearing date of 31 July.

At 1113 BST, shares in Touchstone Exploration were down 2.26% at 32.5p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.