Kistos, Serica Energy abandon attempts to combine

The AIM-traded firm announced its initial offer for Serica on 12 July, consisting of 0.2932 new Kistos shares and 246p cash for each Serica share.

It then revised the offer on 22 July to 0.4 new Kistos shares and 213p cash for each Serica share.

Kistos said Serica’s board rejected the revised combination “with no rationale given nor engagement with the board of Kistos”.

Those proposals followed several months of wrangling between the companies over potential combinations, with Serica offering 90p and 1.29 new Serica shares for each Kistos share on 1 July.

That was rejected by the Kistos board on 18 July.

“Kistos is disappointed that, despite repeated attempts by Kistos, the board of Serica Energy has failed to engage meaningfully either with respect to Kistos' proposed offer for Serica or the terms of Serica's offer for Kistos despite the board of directors of both companies acknowledging the industrial logic in combining the portfolios of the two companies,” Kistos said in its statement on Tuesday afternoon.

“As a result, Kistos today formally announces that it will not make a firm offer for Serica.”

Kistos said it was “confident” in its strategic direction and positioning as an independent North Sea “gas champion” and “proactive consolidator” in the sector.

“The Kistos board will therefore continue to pursue other paths to deliver further on those goals, with the objective of enhancing shareholder value and driving scale and consolidation, as it has successfully done since the company's inception in 2020.”

Serica, meanwhile, said it had “not been possible” to reach agreement with Kistos on the terms or structure of a revised possible offer, confirming that it would not be making a firm offer for Kistos either.

“Serica will continue to proactively seek opportunities to utilise its strong balance sheet and operating capability to invest in its existing assets and diversify its production portfolio through mergers and acquisitions,” the directors said.

“The Serica board will maintain a balanced approach to deploying capital, including further capital returns, while factoring in the requirements for the ongoing business and opportunities for profitable asset and corporate deals.”

At 1521 BST, shares in Kistos were up 2.61% at 495.61p, while those in Serica were down 1.9% at 362p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.