SeaEnergy reveals details of its £6.9m share buy-back proposal

By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on 06/07/2012 21:32

SEAENERGY, the Aberdeen-based oil and gas investment firm, today unveiled details of its plans to return £6.9 million to shareholders by buying back nearly 28 per cent of its shares.

The company – previously known as Ramco – revealed in February it would hand surplus cash back to investors but yesterday outlined the tender offer it will use to pay out the money.

Under the offer, house broker Investec will buy back up to 19,197,442 shares or 27.78 per cent of the company’s stock at 36p a share, representing a premium of 32.7 per cent to Thursday’s closing price.

SeaEnergy, which is mulling options to expand its marine services business, will seek shareholder approval for the tender offer at a general meeting in Aberdeen on 25 July.

If investors vote in favour of the proposals then cheques will be posted out by 3 August.

Shares jumped by as much as 22 per cent following the announcement and ended the day up 14.3 per cent or 3.88p at 31p.

Last summer, the firm sold its renewable energy business to Spanish oil giant Repsol in a £50m deal.

The Scottish group said it would use some of the cash from the deal to move into the marine services market, which could include ships to build and service offshore wind turbines.

Other proceeds from the sale have been used as part of SeaEnergy’s oil and gas assets, which include Lansdowne, the Aim-quoted driller that is explorering for gas off the Irish coast.

In January, SeaEnergy founder Steve Remp stood down as executive chairman, collecting a £2m pay package as he went.