News Release This story is getting more intriguing than a Robert Ludlum novel. The best news is the rights offering is dead. No doubt in my mind it was deliberate, not an unintended consequence of supposedly unrelated activities. AOS getting (back) into Africa. No mention of Alger Lake farm-in (though as has been reported here, Chambers has confirmed it's dead). They've finally hired some technical expertise to replace everyone ousted during the take-over. Clearwater may now get back on track, though there's no more reason to expect a favourable outcome.
Most disappointing is the fact they've apparently accomplished nothing in terms of leveraging their oilsands holdings or attracting any JV partners. I think they've been schooled since their reckless promises during the proxy battle, though the economics of oilsands plays have obviously changed significantly over the same period,
Most intriguing of all is who's behind Wellington's exercise of 47 milion rights, which is twice as many as they would have been issued, what sort of private transaction got them the additional 23 million rights, why they were willing to pay a 40 to 60% premium over market price (plus the dilution factor) to increase their ownership in AOS, and how PO'd will they be at having to reverse the transaction? Maybe this is typical of the machinations of a public company run entirely by securities lawyers.