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Baytex Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTE, TO: BTE.TO) sweetened its offer for Eagle Ford operator Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. (ASX: AUT.AX; TO: AEF.TO) by roughly $43 million cash, or 2.4%, the company announced May 12.
Aurora’s total price tag, including debt, is about $2.35 billion. Baytex is also dangling a 9% dividend increase in front of Aurora shareholders.
It isn’t clear why the asking price increased. However, Baytex said May 12 that two funds holding 17.4% of shares intend to vote for the transaction.
In February, Baytex made an unsolicited offer to Aurora for $1.8 billion and assumption of $744 million in debt. The deal requires Aurora’s shareholder approval, court consent and the approval of U.S. and Australian regulatory officials.
The deal can be superseded by a more lucrative offer.
An Australian court has approved the transaction. As part of the legal review, Aurora retained an independent expert to review the transaction. Aurora’s underlying value was assessed at between A$3.76 and A$4.29 per share.
Baytex initially offered A$4.10 per share. The increase to A$4.20 puts the transaction nearly at the top of the assessment’s valuation. Before the announced deal, Aurora’s stock price had not been above A$4 since October 2012. At the time Baytex made its February offer, the stock jumped to A$4.09 from A$2.62, or 56%.
Aurora shareholders are set to approve the deal on May 21. The arrangement must be approved by at least 75% of votes cast by Aurora shareholders and by a majority, in number, of the Aurora shareholders who cast votes.
Baytex’s board has unanimously approved the revised offer. Baytex said it expects completion of the deal in the first half of June.
Aurora’s directors recommended that shareholders should vote in favor of the deal in the absence of a superior proposal. Each director intends to vote the Aurora shares controlled by them in favor of the deal, the company said in a press release.
Australia’s Aurora has been focused on the Eagle Ford’s Sugarkane Field, which is 97% held by production. It is developing 22,100 largely contiguous net acres there, and in the third quarter of 2013 produced 10 new net wells. The company’s acreage is located in Karnes, Atascosa and Live Oak counties, Texas.
Aurora primarily relies on Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) to operate its holdings.
Aurora's fourth-quarter 2013 gross production was 24,678 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) with 82% liquids, of which is predominantly light, high-quality crude oil.
Aurora reported in November strong liquidity with US$106 million cash and an undrawn US$300 million credit facility. Average daily production hit a net 15,785 boe/d in third-quarter 2013, up 70% year-over-year.
The company’s capex for 2013 were planned at up to US$495 million, including up to US$451 million in drilling and completions capital.
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