KNOC secures 64.26-% stake in bid for Dana

Dana Petroleum, the UK-listed oil explorer finally caved in to the hostile bid by Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) after South Korea's largest oil company won support from holders of 64.26 per cent of Dana shares.

KNOC, which required at least 75 per cent of the UK's biggest oil and gas explorer to delist the company, today said its 1,800 pence-a-share offer is now wholly unconditional.

KNOC's announcement comes a day after the Office of Fair Trading approved the deal and nearly a fortnight after it had secured the approval from 48.62 per cent of the Dana's major shareholders including Schroders, Blackrock and JPMorgan Asset Management.

The majority of Dana shareholders accepted KNOC's £1.87 billion ($2.9 billion) bid despite Aberdeen, Scotland-based Dana had early this month put up a lengthy defence document saying that KNOC was unaware of the scale of Dana's exploration programme and the impact of the acquisition of the oil producing interests of Petro Canada when it tabled its £18 offer in July. (See: South Korea's KNOC in talks to buy UK's Dana Petroleum) 

Dana claimed that KNOC was offering 18 per cent less, while according to independent expert asset evaluation, the UK's largest independent North Sea oil producer is worth at least £21.20 a share and possibly more than £30.

But Dana's defence cut no ice with its major shareholders, who had repeatedly been asking the company to open its books to KNOC and knew that the South Korean company had made a fair offer. (See: Dana's defence of Petro Canada acquisition does not sway KNOC, investors)