RE: Lots of speculation Lochard takeover comingI believe if IAE is to make a bid for Lochard it will be just for the Athena 10% stake and nothing else. Athena 2p I believe is about 24 m boe so Lochard stake at 10% is about 2.4M boe, I believe the Cook deal valuation of approx $10 per flowing barrel, and the recent Encore North Sea takeover was approx $20 per barrel. So even if IAE halved that, $15 per barrel the price would be approx $36M. Lochard is raising cash, sold their Australia liquids business very recently, had to take a loan to fund their Athena development stake this year for about $11M, at very steep interest charges, currently looking for farm-out partners for their other North Sea stakes, so I would believe that Lochard is desparte for the cash, will take the cash and continue with their other prospects.
Interesting that RBC was added as a joint broker. If IAE does take Lochard Athena stake, they have plenty of cash and debt facilities to do so without raising equity.