SONGA OFFSHORE SE - CONTEMPLATED PRIVATE PLACEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF UP TO USD 110 MILLION AND SUBSEQUENT REPAIR OFFERING
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SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.
SONGA OFFSHORE SE - CONTEMPLATED PRIVATE PLACEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF UP TO USD
110 MILLION AND SUBSEQUENT REPAIR OFFERING
Stock exchange notice 19 April 2012
The board of directors (the "Board of Directors") of Songa Offshore SE ("SONG"
or the "Company") Â intends to raise new equity in the amount of up to the NOK
equivalent of USD 110 million through an offering by way of a private placement
of new shares directed towards existing shareholders and new investors (the
"Private Placement").
The proceeds from the Private Placement will be used to partly finance the
extensive capex, life enhancements and upgrades of the rigs currently operating
on the Norwegian Continental Shelf for Statoil (Dee, Trym and Delta), strengthen
SONG's balance sheet and for general corporate purposes.
To cater for the extensive capital expenditures undertaken on Dee, Trym and
Delta during 2011 and 2012 and to reflect the extended residual life of these
units post completion, an amended amortisation profile on the existing bank
facility (excluding Eclipse) has been agreed with the syndicate banks. As part
of the amendment, the Company will not amortise this debt for the next four
quarters and the amount USD 26.5m per quarter will be distributed and added to
the quarterly amortization payments over the residual life of the facility,
which matures in October 2015.
Arctic Securities ASA, Nordea Markets, Pareto Securities AS and SEB Enskilda
(collectively, the "Managers") have been engaged as managers and bookrunners for
the Private Placement and the subsequent repair offering.
The Managers have received pre-committed applications from the Company's largest
shareholders, Spencer Energy AS and Perestroika AS with affiliated and related
parties, who in total owns approximately 36% of the current share capital in
SONG, pursuant to which they have undertaken to subscribe for their relative
portion of the Private Placement and accepted to be allocated and delivered new
shares that will not be tradable until the publication of an EU prospectus for
the listing of such shares. These commitments will be given full allocation in
the Private Placement. Furthermore, the following primary insiders in SONG have
subscribed for new shares either through privately held investment vehicles or
personally, Jens Wilhelmsen (Chairman of the Board) has subscribed for shares
equivalent to NOK 1 million at market terms, Asbjørn Vavik (Chief Executive
Officer) has subscribed for 100,000 new shares at market terms, and Trond
Christensen (Chief Operating Officer) has subscribed for 100,000 new shares at
market terms. These primary insiders will be given full allocation in the
Private Placement despite not fulfilling the minimum application amount
specified below.
The minimum application amount in the Private Placement will be the NOK
equivalent of USD 500,000. The offer price will be determined by the Board of
Directors in its sole discretion, in consultation with the Managers, through a
book-building process, but is expected to be close to the closing price on 19
April 2012. Allocation of Offer Shares will be determined at the sole discretion
of the Company, in consultation with the Managers, but priority will be given to
institutional investor based on criteria such as investor quality, quality and
timeliness of order and current relative shareholding in the Company (to the
extent identifiable) and applicable selling restrictions. The Company may decide
to utilise the possibility to accept and allocate orders for less than USD
500,000 to leading personnel and board members. Completion of the Private
Placement is subject to the Board of Directors making a resolution on the final
offer price and allocation of the new shares in the Private Placement and the
required share capital increase to issue such new shares.
The application period will start on 19 April 2012 at 17:30 hours (CET) and
close on 20 April 2012 at 08:00 hours (CET). The Company, in consultation with
the Managers, reserves the right to close or extend the application period at
any time in its sole discretion,but an early close is anticipated. If the
Application Period is extended, the other dates referred to herein will be
extended accordingly.
The settlement of the Private Placement is expected to take place on or around
25 April 2012. Pursuant to a share lending agreement with Spencer Energy AS (the
"Lender"), the Managers will borrow existing SONG shares listed on Oslo Børs
from the Lender for the purpose of delivering these to the investors (other than
the Lender and Perestroika AS with affiliated and related parties) in the
Private Placement in lieu of the new shares against simultaneous payment for the
same. Hence, investors in the Private Placement will be delivered existing
shares that are tradable on Oslo Børs. The new shares will then be issued and
delivered to the Lender as redelivery of the borrowed shares and, as the case
may be, to the Lender and Perestroika AS with affiliated and related parties as
delivery of any new shares allocated to them in the Private Placement pursuant
to their pre-commitments. The new shares will be assigned a separate ISIN and
not be listed or tradable on Oslo Børs until approval by the Financial
Supervisory Authority of Norway, and publication, of an EU prospectus for the
listing of such new shares. This prospectus will also comprise the subsequent
repair offering described below and is expected to be published as soon as it is
approved by the Financial Supervisory Authority.
Subject to completion of the Private Placement, the Board of Directors of SONG
intends to carry out a subsequent repair offering of new shares expected to be
in the amount of approximately the NOK equivalent of USD 10 million, in which
shareholders in the Company as of 19 April 2012, as registered in the VPS on 24
April 2012, who were not invited to participate in the Private Placement and who
are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful or, for
jurisdictions other than Norway, would require any prospectus, filing,
registration or similar action, will be granted non-transferable preferential
rights to subscribe for, and be allocated, new shares. Over-subscription and
subscription without preferential rights will be permitted. The offer price in
the repair offering will be the same as in the Private Placement and the
subscription period will be two weeks.
For further information, please contact:
Geir Karlsen, CFO, tel. +47 91 60 83 32
* * *
Important notice:
This announcement is not an offer for sale of securities in the United States or
any other country in which such offer would be unlawful or would require
prospectus, registration or other measures. The securities referred to herein
have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"U.S. Securities Act"), and may not be sold in the United States absent
registration or pursuant to an exemption from registration under the U.S.
Securities Act. SONG does not intend to register any portion of the offering of
the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the
securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made
and may not be distributed or sent into the United States, Canada, Australia,
Hong Kong, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be
unlawful or would require registration or other measures.
In any EEA Member State that has implemented Directive 2003/71/EC (together with
any applicable implementing measures in any member State, the "Prospectus
Directive"), this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at
qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus
Directive.
This announcement is only directed at (a) persons who are outside the United
Kingdom; or (b) investment professionals within the meaning of Article 19(5) of
the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005
(the "Order"); or (c) persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) ("high net
worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.") of the Order; or (D)
persons to whom any invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity
can be communicated in circumstances where Section 21(1) of the Financial
Services and Markets Act 2000 does not apply.
Certain statements included within this announcement contain forward-looking
information, including, without limitation, those relating to (a) forecasts,
projections and estimates, (b) statements of management's plans, objectives and
strategies for SONG, such as planned expansions, investments or other projects,
(c) costs, capacities or rates, start-up costs, cost reductions and profit
objectives, (d) various expectations about future developments in SONG's
markets, particularly prices, supply and demand and competition, (e) results of
operations, (f) margins, (g) growth rates, (h) risk management, as well as (i)
statements preceded by "expected", "scheduled", "targeted", "planned",
"proposed", "intended" or similar statements. Although we believe that the
expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, these
forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and forecasts
that, by their nature, involve risk and uncertainty. Various factors could cause
our actual results to differ materially from those projected in a forward-
looking statement or affect the extent to which a particular projection is
realized.
No assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been
correct. SONG disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section
5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Songa Offshore SE via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1604260]