Member News - TAGLaw

This week Beach Energy Ltd (Beach) closed its takeover offer of Impress Energy Ltd (Impress) having acquired 96% of Impress after Senex Energy Ltd (Senex) sold its 20% share of Impress to Beach. In November last year, Beach and Impress agreed to merge by way of a scheme of arrangement, whereby Beach would seek to acquire shares in Impress that it did not own for $0.0825 per share. The rationale behind the transaction was to increase Beach’s exposure to highly prospective oil tenements in the Western Flank of the Cooper Basin, where Beach has already had significant success in recent times.

Originally Senex blocked the merger by increasing its share in Impress from 10% to 20% and publically stating it would not support the scheme. Beach responded to this by making an unconditional on-market cash offer for Impress at an increased price of A$0.085 per share, valuing Impress at around $75 million.

Strong selling of Impress shares throughout the offer period saw Beach’s share of Impress reach approximately 76% before Senex agreed to the sell its shares in Impress on the day the offer closed. This resulted in Beach closing the offer with 96% of Impress, allowing it to now move to compulsory acquisition of the outstanding Impress shares over the coming weeks.

The Piper Alderman (Sydney, Australia) team that worked on the Beach transaction was led by partners Gordon Grieve and Owen Keen. Piper Alderman was involved throughout all aspects of the merger.

Of the Beach/Impress merger, Gordon Grieve said:

“The last few months have been an exciting time for Beach (and Piper Alderman!). There have been many ups and downs in the process but we are extremely pleased for Beach that the takeover has been successful. This certainly marks another milestone for the company and we’re delighted to continue to be involved in the development and expansion of Beach.”

Piper Alderman
Piper Alderman is a full-service, commercial law firm with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. We have 56 partners, over 160 lawyers and more than 325 staff in total. Our firm is committed to continual excellence in the practice of law, having been leading advisers to commercial interests across Australia for over 160 years. We have achieved our impressive growth by listening to our clients, responding to their needs and creating practical legal solutions. To find out more about us visit www.piperalderman.com.au