RAK Petroleum shareholders approve proposed restructuring

RAK Petroleum Public Company Limited yesterday announced that its shareholders had approved plans to restructure the Company and its subsidiaries and seek a listing on an international stock exchange. 

The proposed restructuring includes the transfer of substantially all of the Company’s assets to a newly formed Dutch company that will be owned by a newly formed UK company in exchange for shares of the UK company. Shares in the UK company will then be issued on a pro rata basis directly to the Company’s shareholders as a return of capital. 

The assets to be transferred include the 42.8 percent of the shares of DNO International ASA held by the Company. The Oslo Stock Exchange has been informed and granted an exemption from its mandatory offer rules for these transfers. 

To facilitate this return of capital, the shareholders approved a proposed plan of capital decrease to take place prior to the distribution of shares in the UK company to the Company’s shareholders, whereby the existing shares of the Company are reduced on a 10:1 basis with old shares being cancelled and new shares being issued to each shareholder. It is then intended that the UK company will seek to list on a major European or North American stock exchange.

The shareholders acted at the Company’s Extraordinary General Meeting held in Ras al Khaimah on Sunday.  “The Board of Directors is gratified by our shareholders’ vote of confidence in our plans and we are excited about opening a new chapter in RAK Petroleum’s future”, said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.