UK-based Energean may have to revise its plan to acquire Italy’s Edison in light of the Algerian government’s response to the sales and purchase agreement (SPA) that the two companies signed in July. Specifically, it may have no choice but to exclude Edison’s Algerian assets from the deal.
On December 23, Energean said Algeria had invited Edison to discuss the acquisition with its national oil company Sonatrach. It did not divulge any specific details of the invitation, but it did note that the transaction could not go forward without the approval of the countries where Edison is operating.
Accordingly, the company said it was continuing talks with Edison to determine whether the parties needed to amend the SPA to exclude the Italian company’s Algerian licenses. “Energean and Edison are also working to agree an appropriate settlement on the total transaction consideration to take into account any exclusion of the Algerian asset from the transaction perimeter,” it said.
Talks with Algeria are not likely to affect the other assets in Edison’s upstream portfolio, Energean added. France, Greece, Norway and the UK have all given a green light to the acquisition, it explained, and Egypt and Italy are likely to do the same in the near future.