18 July 2005 CROSBY CAPITAL PARTNERS INC. (‘Crosby’ or the ‘Company’) Co-investment With Meridian Capital to acquire Middle Eastern Oil & Gas Assets The Company is pleased to announce that it has completed the reorganisation and financing of its interests in the Middle East oil and gas assets which are currently owned by PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk (“Medco Energi”) through its subsidiary Novus Australia Energy Company Pty Ltd (“Novus Petroleum”) (see ‘Notes’ below).
Following negotiations with Medco Energi the acquisition of 100% of the shares of the Medco Energi subsidiary which owns the Middle East assets of Novus Petroleum has now been completed for consideration of US$ 65 million in cash.
This acquisition was completed through a co-investment with Meridian Capital CIS Fund (“Meridian”), a private equity firm specialising in oil & gas and energy investments.
Meridien provided all the capital required to complete the transaction. Following completion of the transaction, Crosby Group’s net interest in the assets through the coinvestment with Meridian will be approximately 11%.
In addition to providing the capital required for the acquisition, Meridian has also committed to provide US$20 million in further loan financing to support the development and exploration programme.
The financing provided by Meridian in relation to the transaction is without recourse to Crosby.
The Novus Middle East assets comprise working interests in four concessions in Oman and one in the UAE.
The assets include production from the Bukha field offshore Oman, a development project in the Greater Bukha area, which contains the West Bukha and Tibat discoveries, and a large exploration position covering the Northern Arabian Gas-condensate Play.
Commenting on the transaction, Simon Fry, CEO of Crosby, said:
In Meridian, Crosby has found a partner that shares our view on the significant value of this portfolio and their strong support means that sufficient funds will now be available to help develop these assets that contain a number of ready to drill prospects, which cumulatively have the potential to generate gross mean reserves of approximately 5.5 tcf of gas and 500 mmbbl of condensate..” For further information, please contact:
Simon Fry, Chief Executive Officer in London on +44 207 590 2800 Ian Gibbs Managing Director in Singapore on +65 63202606 Andrew Marshall, Fishburn Hedges +44 (0)20 7839 4321 Regulatory Announcement Go to market news section Company Crosby Capital Partners Inc TIDM CSB Headline Acquisition Released 07:00 18-Jul-05 Number 9596O Market News Page 1 of 3 http://www.londonstockexchange.com/LSECWS/IFSPages/MarketNewsPopup....
18/7/2005 Market News Page 2 of 3 http://www.londonstockexchange.com/LSECWS/IFSPages/MarketNewsPopup.... 18/7/2005 Notes 1. On June 16 2004 the Company announced that it had acquired interests in a variety of oil and gas assets in the Middle East, the United States of America and Pakistan that were owned by Novus Petroleum Limited.
Whilst the option held entitled Crosby to acquire 49% of the Middle East assets, following negotiations with Medco, Crosby and Meridian, via a co-investment venture vehicle, have now acquired 100% of the assets.
2. On 31 January 2005 the Company sold its interests in the US oil and gas assets to Lodore Resources Inc.
3. tcf . means trillion cubic feet mmbbl . means million barrels END c2004 London Stock Exchange plc.
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